The Valiants return to Sky Bet League One action as they welcome Bradford City to Vale Park.
Darren Moore’s side comes into Tuesday night's game following a 1-0 win over Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup Second Round. A second-half strike from Ben Waine saw the Vale progress.
Post Bristol Rovers Thoughts
The Gaffer's immediate response to cup progression:
“Really pleased for the boys and for us all here at Vale. We turned up today with the one sole objective of getting into the Third Round, and we’ve achieved that.
“The performance was good. Probably moments in the game going forward, we could’ve capitalised more.”
Our Opponents
Just like the Valiants, Bradford were promoted from League Two last season, finishing in 3rd place. Prior to this, the Bantams had been stuck in League Two for six seasons, despite them reaching the playoffs in 2023. Bradford do have some history in the game, winning the FA Cup in 1911 and then securing promotion to the top flight in 1999 and staying there for two seasons.
Tuesday's visitors currently sit 2nd in the league, a point behind leaders Cardiff despite playing a game more. The Yorkshire side have only lost two games this season, with those coming against Doncaster and Burton. City come into the game on Tuesday off the back of a 1-0 win away at Plymouth Argyle, where an Antoni Sarcevic penalty secured all three points.
The Opposition Dugout
Graham Alexander is the man in charge at Bradford. The Scotsman was appointed manager in 2023 and has gone on to take charge of 117 games, winning 58 of those. Graham’s coaching career began back in 2011 when he was assistant manager at Preston. His first managerial role came a year later when he was appointed manager of Fleetwood Town. Since then, he has had spells with Scunthorpe, Salford, Motherwell, MK Dons, and now Bradford.
Prior to his managerial career, Graham had a playing career of over twenty years, making just shy of 700 club appearances and 40 international caps. The former right-back began his career at Scunthorpe before making the move to Luton Town. Graham would spend the majority of his career with Preston, playing over 400 games for them. Controversially, Alexander made the switch across Lancashire to Burnley, where he made his Premier League debut.
Player to Watch
A player for Vale fans to keep an eye on is forward Bobby Pointon. Bobby is Bradford’s joint top scorer this season with six goals, whilst also contributing with one assist. The 21-year-old has already matched his tally from last season and will be looking to beat his career best on Tuesday.
Fixture Throwback
Port Vale 2-1 Bradford City, 24th April 2021
The Valiants met Bradford City at Vale Park in 2021, where an action-packed first half saw Vale come out on top.
Vale did find themselves 1-0 down fifteen minutes into the game when Clayton Donaldson fired home from close range, leaving Scott Brown with no chance.
However, just two minutes later, Darrell Clarke’s side found an equaliser through Theo Robinson. A delicate ball into the box from Luke Joyce was controlled and finished calmly by the striker.
Shortly after this, Vale were awarded a penalty when Nathan Smith was deemed to have been fouled by a Bantams defender. Tom Conlon stepped up to take the penalty, lifted his effort into the middle of the goal to give Vale the lead and what would turn out to be all three points.
