Vale 'Keeper says this could be the defining game of the season
Chris Neal says you can’t get away from the fact that tonight’s encounter against Burton Albion is a massive game for both clubs, but home defeat would not be the end of the world.
Obviously the payers are not entertaining that option and are confident they can add another three points to the total with a victory over the Brewers here at Vale Park.
The Vale ‘keeper said: “You can’t beat around the bush and say it’s not a big game, because it is. It could be the defining game of the season and a positive result for us would put seven points between us and fourth or fifth place.
“It is going to be a massive game but we just need to compose ourselves and play as we have been doing in the last few weeks.
“It is an old cliché, but you have got to take one game at a time and at this stage of the season you really do.
“If we were to get a negative result, it’s not the end of the world, we are still going to be in an automatic place. It is a massive game in one respect, but it is just another three points at the end of the day.
“When we lost that big gap we had over the teams below us it knocked us. We had a bit of a wobble for four or five game, but if you look over the whole season that is the only time we have had a sticky patch.
“We like to think that is all behind us now. We got a great result here against Cheltenham and shows a lot of character coming back from a goal down, as we did on Monday at Chesterfield.
“The Cheltenham game was a massively important game for us and I think that was a bit of a turning point for us and the reaction after the game between the lads, and in the changing room showed that it meant a lot.
“Despite that sticky patch, I don’t think the buzz ever left us. Amongst the players and staff and everyone around the club, it was still there.
“Burton have scored some great goals over the last few weeks and they are a great attacking threat with a solid spine so it will be an interesting game and hopefully we can come out on top.
“I think the eighty point mark is round about where the automatic places finish, so another nine points will do us. We’ve got a lot of football to play, but hopefully we can come out of it successful.”