Jon Brady kicks off his Port Vale tenure as his side welcomes Fleetwood to Vale Park in the Emirates FA Cup Third Round on Friday evening
Brady was officially announced as the new Vale boss on Tuesday and comes in with heaps of experience, with the Australian taking charge of almost 500 games in English football.
This is the second time this season that the Valiants have come across League Two side Fleetwood. The first instance was back in November, when the two met in the Vertu Trophy, which saw the visitors emerge victorious on penalties.
Press Conference Takeaways
Here’s what the new Gaffer had to say about Friday's fixture:
“Fleetwood are a good, strong side in League Two, but really it’s about us and how we perform on the day. If we can perform to the best of our ability, then we have every chance of progressing through to the next round."
Our Opponents
The Cod Army have been a League Two side since their relegation from the third tier in 2024. Prior to this, Fleetwood spent almost ten years in League One, achieving a Play-Off spot on two occasions, but failing to capitalise both times.
Fleetwood currently sit in 13th position in the league after having a somewhat inconsistent first half of the season. Town did gather some momentum throughout October, going unbeaten in five games, but haven’t been able to really build on that. Fleetwood come into Friday night's cup clash following their New Year's Day defeat at home to Grimsby Town.
The Opposition Dugout
Pete Wild is the current manager of Fleetwood Town after he was appointed during the Christmas period of 2024, following the sacking of former Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam. Since his appointment, Wild has a win percentage of 42%, with the Englishman winning twenty-four of his fifty-seven games.
Pete’s managerial career began at Oldham Athletic; however, he was only in charge for seventeen matches before moving on to Halifax Town. He would go on to take charge of 127 games with Halifax. Prior to his reign at Fleetwood, Pete had a two-year stint at fellow League Two club Barrow.
Player to Watch
Striker Ryan Graydon is a player for Vale fans to keep an eye out for should he feature on Friday. Graydon is Fleetwood’s top scorer this season, netting on eight occasions whilst also contributing with three assists. The Irishman is close to matching his best league tally of goals, which is currently nine, something he achieved last campaign.
Fixture Throwback
Port Vale 2-1 Fleetwood Town, 12th November 2016
Vale and Fleetwood have met each other on a regular basis in recent history, and on this occasion, it was the Valiants who came out on top in a game which featured two red cards.
Following an end-to-end first half, it was the visitors who took the lead with fifty-three minutes on the clock. A deep cross towards the back post was kept alive, and eventually the ball was headed past Jak Alnwick by Chris Long.
Vale found their equaliser with fifteen minutes to play at Vale Park. A cross into the box from the left wasn’t cleared by the Fleetwood defence, before Ryan Taylor deflected the ball into the path of Regino Cicilia, who made no mistake from close range.
With four minutes of the ninety left to play, the Valiants struck again to win the game. After some magnificent work down the left from Jerome Thomas, the winger found Alex Jones unmarked in the box. After Jones initially missed his first chance, the ball fell kindly to the striker, who buried home the rebound.
With full-time approaching, both sides were reduced to ten men after an on-field scuffle saw Anthony Grant and Chris Long sent off. However, this didn’t affect the result, and Vale came away with all three points.
