The Valiants kick off 2026 at Vale Park as we welcome Blackpool to ST6.
Vale come into this New Year's Day clash following a narrow defeat at Bradford City on Monday, where a second-half goal was the difference.
Post Bradford Thoughts
Here’s Jordan Shipley's immediate response to Monday's defeat:
“It was always going to be a battling performance; we have to do that every game now, that’s the standard we’ve set ourselves, and we’re looking forward to the next match.”
Our Opponents
The Tangerines are a former Premier League side, albeit for one season during the 2010/11 campaign. Since this, Blackpool went on to spend four seasons in the Championship before being hit with back-to-back relegations that saw them playing in League Two.
They did recover and secured promotion back to League One at the first time of asking, going on to spend the next eight years between the third tier and the Championship.
Blackpool currently sit in 13th position in the league, three points above the relegation zone. They had a poor start to the season, which included a defeat to the Valiants in the Carabao Cup, but since the change of manager in November, the Lancashire outfit have picked up some form and lifted themselves up the table.
They come into Thursday's game off the back of a convincing 4-0 home win over Rotherham United.
The Opposition Dugout
Ian Evatt is the man in charge of the Tangerines, having been appointed in late October following the departure of Steve Bruce. The 44-year-old has taken charge of fourteen matches so far at Blackpool, winning eight of them, with an impressive 57% win rate.
Evatt previously had spells at Barrow and, more recently, Bolton Wanderers, where he spent five years, taking charge of over 250 matches and winning the EFL Trophy.
Player to Watch
A player for Vale fans to keep an eye out for is striker, Ashley Fletcher. Blackpool’s number eleven has been one of their most influential players this season, scoring nine goals and contributing with four assists in the process.
Ashley is currently in the best form of his career, smashing his career-best goal tally of thirteen goals.
Fixture Throwback
Port Vale 2-0 Blackpool, 24th November 2015
The Valiants have a decent record against Thursday's visitors, with one of these recent victories coming in 2015 when two goals in the last ten minutes secured all the points.
It was an end-to-end first half with both teams going close at Vale Park, but neither side could find the decisive goal.
After a dominant second half, Vale eventually took the lead with 82 minutes on the clock as AJ Leitch-Smith was played through on goal by Sam Kelly and slotted the ball underneath the keeper to give Vale the lead.
Just four minutes later, the Vale scored again and all but definitely won the game. A smart cut back from Uche Ikpeazu was latched onto by Chris Birchall, who met the ball with a first-time effort and secured all three points for the Valiants.