Darren Moore's side are back on the road this weekend as they travel to face Lincoln City in Sky Bet League One.
More than 500 Valiants will make the 180-mile round trip to Lincolnshire this weekend to watch their side. The Vale come into Saturday's game off the back of a narrow defeat at home to Plymouth Argyle.
Post Plymouth Thoughts
Here is the Gaffer's immediate reaction to the weekend's result:
“It’s disappointing to lose the game. I thought we set out strong again, and we started the game really strong and created the chances.”
Press Conference Takeaways
The boss’s thoughts ahead of the Lincoln clash:
“We know what we’re going into. It's another tough game for different reasons, but we know that.”
“League One is an excellent league; it asks you different questions week in week out. It’s up to us to come up with the answers that we need.”
Our Opponents
The Imps have been a mainstay in League One, being in the division since their promotion from League Two in 2019. Lincoln won the league by six points that season, finishing ahead of Bury and MK Dons. Saturday’s hosts do have one bit of major silverware to their name, winning the Football League Trophy in 2018, beating Shrewsbury Town 1-0 in the final.
Lincoln currently sit 4th in the league, winning eight of their seventeen games this season. They started the season in great form as they picked up ten points from their opening five games, putting them in playoff contention. City do come into Saturday’s contest following a narrow defeat away at Wycombe Wanderers, where a late winner left them empty-handed.
The Opposition Dugout
The man in charge at Lincoln is Polishman Michael Skubala. He was appointed in November 2023 following the sacking of Mark Kennedy and has gone on to lead 110 games, winning forty-eight of those. This is the 43-year-old's first professional managerial role after he spent less than a year working at Leeds United as Assistant Manager and then the U21s Manager.
Prior to this, Skubala had coaching spells at Barwell FC, Loughborough University and Coventry City Youth.
Player to Watch
A player for Vale fans to look out for is left-back, Adam Reach. Adam is his side's highest-performing player so far this season, helping his side achieve six clean sheets. He has also scored on one occasion against Peterborough and gained two assists. The full back joined the Imps in the summer window after a spell with Wycombe Wanderers that saw him reach the playoffs.
Fixture Throwback
Lincoln City 1-2 Port Vale, 1st December 2009
The last time we came away victorious at Lincoln was back in 2009 when goals from Marc Richards and Louis Dodds secured all three points.
Micky Adams’ Vale took the league in Lincolnshire five minutes before half-time through Marc Richards.
The visitors levelled, however, shortly after the restart as Chris Martin turned the ball into his own net. The Vale did respond, though ten minutes later, when a Louis Dodds strike gave the Valiants all three points on the road.
