Vale take on Hednesford United on Tuesday evening
Port Vale take on Hednesford United on Tuesday in the semi-final of the Staffs Senior Cup and are expected to put out a strong side.
Vale will be fielding several of the first team squad for the game as Micky Adams and his staff try to keep members of the first team squad fit and ready if called upon this weekend against Torquay United.
Micky Adams may or may not make changes for the game at Plainmoor on Saturday, but if he does, he wants to make sure any player who comes in is in top condition.
Assistant boss mark grew said: “The main priority is to keep everybody in the squad ticking over and as the manager said the other day, there are going to be injuries and suspensions, we are going to lose games, and we have got to make sure that the players on the bench are one hundred per cent.
“It’s no use just relying on the training every day, we have got to get them match fit and it is the ideal opportunity to give those players some game time.”
The game is an ideal opportunity to test central defender John McCombe after being out for the past few weeks with injury and he will start the game.
Grew explained: “On Saturday when Liam Chilvers phoned in ill and we had Joe Davis injured, we were looking at things and john McCombe’s name obviously came up.
“But he had been out for six weeks and had only had two days training and we just felt it was far too early for him and John understood that and he probably thought the same.
“It would be nice for John to get ninety minutes at Hednesford, but we will have to monitor that through the game. We have got young kids on the bench if John is struggling.
“He has trained today (Monday) and two days last week and he looks good. He’s worked hard to get back to some sort of good shape and it wouldn’t surprise me if he does the full ninety minutes.”