Port Vale welcome Doncaster Rovers to Burslem in the second part of a Vale Park double header on Saturday.
Darren Moore’s side come into the clash with Doncaster off the back of Tuesday's defeat to Stevenage at Vale Park.
Post Stevenage Thoughts
Darren Moore’s reaction to Tuesday's result:
“I said to the boys that we can’t afford to throw out all the good work we’ve done up until 87 minutes. What’s done us tonight is just concentration.
“Tonight was probably a game that was more self-inflicted, that’s probably the most disappointing thing.
“You get to 87 minutes and all of a sudden football is football, it can kick you right where it hurts in a split second and it’s happened in the latter parts of the game”.
Press Conference Takeaways
Ben Garrity looking ahead to Saturday's match:
“They’ve got off to a flyer to be fair and we played them two or three times last season, and they were really tough”
The Gaffer's thoughts ahead of the Doncaster game:
“Both teams know each other really, really well. They’re a different team to last season, they’re likely to play fast and quick football”.
“The way both teams play suggests it’s going to be a fast game. They score goals and they’ve been known for that with their attacking flair”.
About Doncaster Rovers
Doncaster is a city located in South Yorkshire, around two hours away from Vale Park. Donny play their home games at the Eco-Power stadium, which has a capacity of just over 15,000. Doncaster were promoted last season from League Two as league champions, finishing four points above the Valiants.
The visitors have made a positive start to new season, winning two out of their opening four games, whilst also drawing one. Their only defeat of the season so far came on Tuesday as they lost 2-0 away at Huddersfield. The most notable victory of their campaign to this point was the 4-0 away win against Championship side Middlesbrough in the Carabao Cup first round.
The Opposition Dugout
Grant McCann is the man in charge at Rovers. Grant was appointed manager of the Yorkshire club in 2023 following a nine month spell as Peterborough United gaffer. This is Grant's second spell in charge at Doncaster after he had a spell there in the 2018/19 season, before making the move to Hull City.
McCann also had a seventeen-year playing career between 1998 and 2015. The former midfielder began his playing days with West Ham and went on to make four Premier League appearances. His longest spell at a club was with Peterborough United between 2010 and 2015. During this time, he won the Football League Trophy and was part of the squad that secured promotion to the Championship in 2011.
Player to Watch
Luke Molyneux is seen as Donny's danger man after his stellar campaign last season, which saw him earn a place in the PFA League Two Team of the Year.
Molyneux contributed to 28 goals last season, scoring 16 and getting 12 assists, and has started this season well, with a goal and an assist in Doncaster’s opening four games.
Fixture Throwback
Port Vale 3-0 Doncaster Rovers, August 22nd 2015
The last time Vale beat Doncaster Rovers in the league at Vale Park was in 2015 when goals from Sam Foley, Uche Ikpeazu and Byron Moore secured all three points.
The Valiants had a great chance to take the lead after Enoch Andoh was fouled in the penalty area. However, Sam Foley missed the resulting spot kick. Foley would quickly make amends for his penalty miss as he gave Vale the lead in the 35th minute with a glanced header into the top corner.
Ikpeazu doubled Vale’s lead a minute into the second half. A through ball from Louis Dodds was latched onto by Ikpeazu, and the striker turned, beat one defender and slotted the ball into the bottom left corner. Byron Moore made sure of the points two minutes from time. After some delightful link-up play, Ben Purkiss played a ball across the box to an open Moore, who flicked the ball past the goalkeeper.
