MATCH PREVIEW: Port Vale v Barnet

MATCH PREVIEW: Port Vale v Barnet

Fixture – Port Vale vs Barnet
Date – Saturday 18th November
Venue – Vale Park

Preview

Port Vale will hope to extend their unbeaten run to four in all competitions as they host Barnet at Vale Park.

The tie is set to be an interesting encounter with the two sides sitting third and second from bottom. A win for either of them could see them leapfrog up the league and potentially drag a few teams into the relegation scrap.

The Bees are struggling lately and have lost their last three games, they also haven’t won a game since early September when they beat Cambridge United 3-1.

 

The Opposition

Saturday will be the first time that new manager, Mark McGhee steps into the dugout after taking over on Tuesday. He replaces Rossi Eames at The Hive Stadium with Barnet in need of a turnaround.

Barnet would have hoped to make it into the top half of the table this year after finishing 15th last campaign. There are still a lot of games left to played so nobody will yet cancel that out.

 

Talk

Neil Aspin: “We have 20 odd games to play and we need to be consistent with our performances. If we do that – we will have enough points to be safe.”

Mark McGhee: “There will be nothing but hard work. The first thing I explained to the players was that football is a running game, we have to get ourselves to run faster, harder and further than our opposition.”

 

Team News

Ben Whitfield’s injury remains a problem with the winger getting closer to his return. Rob Lainton is still out through injury as he is expected to be back in training within a couple of weeks. Ryan Boot is set to keep the number one spot after recovering well from a finger injury.

Barnet’s Richard Brindley, Elliott Johnson and Dave Tarpey are all injured ahead of Saturday’s game at ValePark but are said to be making steady progress.

 

Coverage

iFollow the Vale will be providing full 90 minute commentary from the match, while the Port Vale Twitter and Facebook feed will be providing live updates for the entirety.

There will also be build-up to the game with the official Snapchat account: officialpvfc.

Reaction will be available on the official website post-match, as well as on YouTube, iFollow and social media.