The Valiants play their second game in three days as we make the trip south to face Peterborough United
Vale come into Thursday’s clash with Posh off the back of a 0-0 draw with Barnsley on Tuesday evening. Joe Gauci was the Vale hero as he saved a second-half penalty to preserve his clean sheet.
Post Barnsley Thoughts
Here’s what the gaffer had to say regarding Tuesday’s game:
“The boys worked extremely hard, lacked quality at times and we got into some good areas, but our crossing wasn’t good enough, and we needed more quality.”
Our Opponents
Peterborough United have been a mainstay in League One, spending 11 out of the last 12 seasons in the division. They did spend one season in the Championship during the 2021/22 season but were relegated straight away after finishing 22nd. The side based in Cambridgeshire have had some recent silverware success, winning back-to-back EFL trophies in 2024 and then last season when they beat Birmingham City at Wembley Stadium.
United currently sit in 16th position in the league, just four points above the relegation zone with five fixtures remaining. Peterborough had a decent first half of the season, but struggled to continue with that in the New Year. Since the turn of the year, Posh have found it difficult to string wins together and now find themselves sat in the bottom half of the league table. They come into Thursday’s game off the back of a 3-1 defeat at Blackpool on Saturday.
The Opposition Dugout
Luke Williams is the man in charge at Peterborough after he was appointed in late October following the sacking of Darren Ferguson.
Since taking over in the dugout, Williams has won close to half of his games, picking up fourteen wins from thirty-two games. Prior to his appointment with The Posh, Luke had spells as manager at both Notts County and, more recently, Swansea City.
Player to Watch
A player for the travelling Vale fans to be wary of on Thursday is striker Harry Leonard. Leonard has been one of Peterborough’s most important players up to this point, scoring thirteen goals and contributing with five assists as well. The man on loan from Blackburn Rovers has already smashed his best scoring season of three goals. Leonard scored the winning goal when the two sides met back in December.
Fixture Throwback
Peterborough United 2-3 Port Vale, 12th March 2016
The Valiants haven’t beaten Peterborough away from home in over ten years, when a stunning second-half comeback saw Vale leave Cambridgeshire with all three points.
The home side took the lead in the game with just two minutes on the clock through Jon Taylor and added a second goal just before half-time as Aaron Williams struck a powerful half-volley past Chris Neal.
The comeback started four minutes into the second half when Byron Moore received a pass from Sam Foley inside the box before beating a defender and firing an effort into the bottom corner.
After a quiet spell in the game, five minutes from time, the match sprang into life, and Vale grabbed an equaliser. A cross into the box from Ryan McGivern was met by the head of JJ Hooper, who delicately nodded the ball home and set up an interesting last five minutes.
With the clock ticking to ninety, Rob Page’s side scored the fifth and final goal of the game to send the travelling Valiants wild. All of Vale’s action was coming down the left side and this time it was Sam Kelly who smartly got past his man and laid the ball off for Louis Dodds to strike. Vale’s number ten did just that and found the back of the net via a deflection to snatch all the points.
