Port Vale Preview

Suspended
By CCFCSleepingGiant.com
August 12 2002

massive crowd is expected at Ninian Park to witness the first home game of the new campaign. City will be looking to make it six points from six against a Port Vale team who were described as 'kittens' by their manager.

Preview from CCFCSleepingGiant.com

A massive crowd is expected at Ninian Park to witness the first home game of the new campaign. City will be looking to make it six points from six against a Port Vale team who were described as 'kittens' by their manager.

There was pre-season optimism at Vale Park before the kick-off of the new season. After finishing 14th last time round, Vale fans genuinely believed that their six summer signings could guide them to success this year. Their enthusiasm lasted just 45 minutes.

Vale manager Brian Horton accused his players of being "as weak as kittens" after their crushing weekend home defeat against Tranmere. Steve Brooker gave the Valiants an early lead, but four goals by Koumas, Howarth and Allen made it a dismal start for Vale.

"If we play like that at Cardiff we'll get hammered and I'm not having that," blasted Horton.

"Cardiff won at Oldham, which is a fantastic win, so they are probably expecting it to be seven or eight tomorrow. If we play like we did against Tranmere it will be.

"We've looked strong in pre-season, but against Tranmere we were as weak as kittens. My players let themselves down, they let me down, but first and foremost they let the fans down."

The good pre-season form which Horton is talking about included wins against Newcastle United, Witton, Stafford and Macclesfield. They were only beaten by Coventry and West Brom.

But if you cannot perform in the league, then you're in trouble. Horton has hinted that he will make several changes to XI that were embarrassed by Rovers. They have no injury concerns but expect the inclusion of Matt Carragher and Neil Brisco to the squad after their omissions at the weekend.

Vale played five across midfield on Saturday, and that could cause us problems if they decide to stick with that formation. We only have three midfielders and that showed at times at Boundary Park, but our work-rate was better than our opponent's.

In complete contrast, City got off to a flying start courtesy of goals from Earnshaw and Campbell. Lennie Lawrence is likely to make one forced upon change.

Willie Boland is suspended following his red card against Motherwell. Leyton Maxwell, who was impressive during his five league starts last season, looks certain to be the man to replace him. City will miss Boland's enthusiastic temperament, but we are lucky to have someone of Maxwell's quality as back-up.

Spencer Prior is still suspended and Scott Young will miss the match through injury. This means that Danny Gabbidon and Chris Barker will start the match as centre-backs with Rhys Weston and Gary Croft on either side of them. Gabbi and Barker were outstanding against Oldham.

The three-man attack will probably consist of Thorne, Fortune-West and Campbell for a second consecutive game. Leo is the only one of the trio who is guaranteed a place in the starting line-up after his man of the match display on the weekend.

Earnshaw may start as substitute again despite scoring our eventual winner against the Latics. He said: "The Prince is back when it counts. I was happy to answer the critics with a goal, as I knew I would.

"The worse thing anybody can do it write me off, because I will always come back.

"In a way the goal against Oldham was probably just as important as the Germany goal, because the pressure was on us to win at Oldham."

We had the pleasure of playing Port Vale three times last season - twice in the league and once in the cup. We won on all three occasions.

First up was the league match at Vale Park. Spencer Prior and Earnshaw secured the win for City with two first half strikes. We were never put under real pressure during the second period.

Some two months later we were drawn against Vale again in the FA Cup Second Round. Earnshaw, Gordon and Fortune-West sealed an easy victory for the Bluebirds. As we all know, that result set up the Third Round tie against Leeds United.

Our most recent clash with Stoke-on-Trent outfit was on April Fool's Day at Ninian Park. City weren't in brilliant form, but we still managed a 1-0 victory thanks to a late Peter Thorne goal.

Speaking about the match, Lawrence told the South Wales Echo: "Having secured a win away, we have to make sure we take the points at home.

"Port Vale will come and see a draw as a good result. We have to deal with that.

"It has been a bit harder for us at Ninian Park since I've been here and most of our home wins have been by the odd goal. But we have the chance to secure two wins and we must do everything we can to achieve that.

"Vale will sit back and be patient. We conceded the first goal at home on two or three occasions last season and we have to ensure that doesn't happen this time."

City fans are urged to pre-book their tickets or arrive early to avoid last minute queues. Cash turnstiles tomorrow evening will only be available on the John Smith's Grange End and Bob Bank Terracing. You must purchase a ticket to enter any other area of the ground.