The Vale return to Sky Bet League One action as they make the trip south to face Reading.
Darren Moore’s side come into the game off the back of an excellent performance in the Carabao Cup against Birmingham City, which saw the Valiants progress to the third round thanks to a Jaheim Headley goal.
Post Birmingham Thoughts
The Gaffer's reaction to Tuesday’s result:
“What a fantastic night for all of us connected at Port Vale, a good performance in terms of how the game went tonight.
“The first 20-25 minutes was always going to be key, because we had to get into the pace of the game, cause of the ferocious pace that they set here.
“We looked really dangerous, there was two or three other set play occasions where we got into dangerous areas and, albeit for the goalkeeper we might’ve extended the lead”.
Press Conference Takeaways
The boss also gave his thoughts looking forward to the Reading fixture:
“They’ll probably feel that they’ve had moments, and they’ve failed to capitalise on those moments. Which is something that we’ve all felt here as well.
“There’s a knowing of what we need to do to keep a clean sheet and to remain focussed”.
About Reading:
Reading is located in the county of Berkshire, which is situated around three hours away from Burslem. They play their home games at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, formally known as the Madejski Stadium. The Royals were a Premier League club for a season during the early 2010s but suffered relegation to the Championship and then further relegated to League One in 2023.
The hosts haven’t had a great start to the season, losing their first three league games and drawing the next two. Despite their poor start in the League, Reading beat Wimbledon on Tuesday evening to progress into the third round of the Carabao Cup, where they will face Wrexham.
The Opposition Dugout
Noel Hunt is the man in charge at Reading. Noel was appointed manager in 2024 following his two year spell working with the youth sides at Reading. Before his time at Reading, Noel had seven months working as the Assistant Manager at Doncaster Rovers and previously Swindon Town.
The 42-year-old had an eighteen-year playing career between 2001 and 2019 before he made the step up to management. He began his career at Shamrock Rovers and made his way throughout England, playing for clubs like Leeds, Ipswich and Portsmouth. The former centre forward was accustomed to winning, with his most impressive triumph coming with Reading in 2012 as he helped them win the Championship title and secure promotion to the Premier League.
Player to Watch:
Lewis Wing was an ever-present in the Reading squad last campaign, scoring nine goals and assisting 6. The attacking midfielder has started this season in similar form, scoring two goals and assisting one in his side's first five games.
Fixture Throwback:
Reading 0-3 Port Vale, 7th March 1998
The last time Vale beat The Royals away from home was in 1998 with the legendary John Rudge in charge.
Rudge’s side sprinted into a 2-0 lead before the twenty mark thanks to goals from Lee Mills and Stewart Talbot.
Jan Jansson made sure that three points went back to Burslem as he added a third goal eight minutes from time.
