The Valiants return to Vale Park this weekend as they host Mansfield Town in Sky Bet League One.
Darren Moore’s side comes into Saturday’s clash with Mansfield Town off the back of a convincing 2-0 win away at Exeter City. First-half goals from Ruari Paton and Devante Cole gave Vale their first league of the season.
Post Exeter Thoughts
The Gaffer’s response to Saturday's win:
“Obviously delighted for us all at Port Vale, another committed performance from the players. I think today it was just good to see us get the two all-important goals, but then keep a clean sheet.
“It’s a perfect away day for us and just really pleased for everybody at the football club that finally we’ve got a scoreline that reflects the hard work we’ve been doing.”
Press Conference Takeaways
The boss gave his thoughts regarding Saturday’s game:
“My biggest focus is on the Mansfield fixture, coming up against a great team and a manager who I respect massively.
“I can’t thank the fans enough for their support, the 400-odd fans who travelled to Exeter were outstanding and we need that again on Saturday.
“They’re a great team, they have a huge goal-scoring threat going forward.”
About Mansfield Town
Mansfield Town are located in Nottingham and play their home games at One Call Stadium, which has a capacity of just over 9,000. The travelling Stags will make a ninety-minute journey down the A50 to watch their side on Saturday. Mansfield were a mainstay in League Two for ten years, before they were promoted to League One in 2024 alongside Stockport, Wrexham and Crawley.
Mansfield have made a steady start to the season, picking up eleven points from their first eight games. The three wins that they have picked up came against Exeter, Blackpool and Leyton Orient. However, Nigel Clough's side are without a win in their last three league games and come into this game following a 1-1 draw with Stevenage.
The Opposition Dugout
The man in charge at Town is Nigel Clough. Nigel was appointed Mansfield manager back in 2020 and has gone on to lead 266 games for the club. Nigel’s managerial career began at Burton Albion, where he was a player-coach for over ten years, before stepping into permanent management with Derby County. His spell at Derby was his second-longest spell as a manager at a club behind Mansfield, as he took charge of 233 matches with The Rams.
Clough also had a fantastic playing career between 1984 and 2009. A career in which he won three League Cups with Liverpool and Nottingham Forest and made fourteen appearances for England. Nigel made 475 appearances across his professional career, with 379 of those being in the First Division/Premier League.
Player to Watch
The Stags’ player to watch is midfielder Regan Hendry. Regan is currently Mansfield’s joint top scorer for the season and the club's highest goal contributor for the season, with two goals and three assists. The twenty-seven-year-old signed for Clough's side in the summer on a free transfer from Tranmere Rovers, where he scored three goals last season.
Fixture Throwback
Port Vale 3-0 Mansfield Town, 27th April 1993
John Rudge’s Vale defeated Saturday’s visitors 3-0 in the 1992/1993 season. During this season, the Valiants narrowly missed out on promotion to the First Division by a point.
In front of almost 10,000 fans, Vale took the lead with seven minutes on the clock thanks to a goal from Paul Kerr. Ian Taylor doubled the home side's lead shortly after this, bagging his 18th goal of the season.
Kerr doubled his tally for the game two minutes from time to give Vale a 3-0 win and, most importantly, three points.