The Valiants make the journey to Devon on Saturday afternoon as we face Plymouth Argyle.
Vale come into this weekend’s clash off the back of a narrow 1-0 defeat away at Cardiff City, which confirmed the club's relegation into Sky Bet League Two. A second-half goal from Rubin Colwill was all that separated the two sides on Wednesday evening.
Post Cardiff Thoughts
Here’s what the gaffer made of the defeat:
“It’s hard to take, we always had a belief that we could do it (avoid relegation). Even tonight we played quite well, reduced them to one chance on target and had chances of our own”.
Our Opponents
For the previous two seasons, Plymouth were playing their football in the Championship. However, last season they finished 23rd in the second tier, meaning they were relegated to League One. In their promotion campaign back in 2022, Plymouth became one of the few teams to record over 100 points in a season, finishing on 101.
Saturday’s hosts currently find themselves in eighth place in the league, four points outside of the play-offs with two games remaining. When the two sides met back in November, the Pilgrims were sitting at the bottom of the table, but have since changed their fortunes and put themselves in the play-off mix. Argyle come into this game following a 1-1 draw away at fellow promotion rivals Bradford City.
The Opposition Dugout
The man in charge of the Pilgrims is Tom Cleverly. Tom was appointed in last summer after former boss, Miron Muslic, left the club to join German side Schalke 04. This is the Englishman’s second managerial role after he had a year-long spell with Watford in the Championship. Since taking over at Plymouth, Cleverley has won twenty-five of his fifty-three matches.
Tom did have a great playing career before he stepped into management. The former midfielder came through the Manchester United youth system and went on to make 79 appearances for the first team, whilst winning the Premier League, EFL Cup, Charity Shield, and Club World Cup.
Following his time at Manchester United, Tom would go on to play for Aston Villa, Everton, and lastly, Watford. He also made thirteen appearances for his county and featured for Team GB in the London 2012 Olympics.
Player to Watch
A player Vale fans certainly know all about is Lorent Tolaj. Lorent joined Plymouth from the Valiants last summer and has picked up from where he left off. Tolaj is his side’s highest-performing player so far this season, scoring seventeen goals and achieving six assists in the process.
Fixture Throwback
Plymouth Argyle 0-2 Port Vale, 2nd December 2022
Vale have a good recent record away from home against Argyle, winning on their last four trips to Devon. The most recent one of these came over three years ago, when a James Wilson double helped Vale secure three points.
Following a first half where both sides had good chances, the Valiants eventually took the with sixty-five minutes on the clock. A corner into the box was flicked towards goal by Nathan Smith before James Wilson got something on the ball to divert home in front of the traveling Vale fans.
Vale doubled their lead just six minutes later and it was James Wilson again. Dennis Politic produced a low cross into the box that was gathered by Vale’s number nine before he smartly shot on the turn and found the back of the net, with the keeper at full stretch.
This win ended Plymouth’s 100% record at Home Park that season.