Can City be Valiant and continue recent good run?

City travel to Port Vale on Tuesday night with the hopes of continuing the recent form that has seen just one defeat in the last four games, the other three of which have seen City come from behind to something out of the game. However, we'll have a tricky game against a side that a former Imp has described as being "full of cowards."

There's nothing quite like a nice quiet, uncontroversial derby to effectively secure your safety in the League. Although there are still fifteen games to play, ten points at this stage of the season is a huge lead over the drop zone, especially given that the two teams have won less games combined that your team have. Realistically the Imps should (key word) be safe from the drop zone now, but we shouldn't rest on our laurels and see out the rest of the season as if we weren't realistically safe.

Saturday's game showed a new character that is engulfing this side, a character that has come to prominence in recent weeks, an attitude of not giving up. In the past two weeks we have recovered five points from losing positions, that compared to just one point before that throughout the entire season. A few weeks ago we would have just given up and lost all of those games, but thankfully that is changing and we are slowly improving. It's even getting to the point where we haven't lost in either of our last two away games (big numbers).

However, we now move onto a very tricky game at Port Vale. Although they have only won four games at home this season, Port Vale are still an exceedingly dangerous side who showed at Sincil Bank they only need two chances to score and to win a game. Infact, Port Vale have a habit of scoring any chance they happen to create these days from what I've seen.

Adam Watts is likely to miss the rest of the season following the broken leg sustained in the away game at Grimsby on Saturday. With Nathan Baker also out, it is probably the partnership of Pearce and Swaibu for the first team. Infact, Pearce's inclusion in the defence for the last game and a half have seen a general improvement at the back.

Other than Watts, there are no new injuries to contend with to the best of our knowledge.

OUR EXPECTED CITY STARTING LINE UP
	Burch is still looking for his first clean sheet since November.  The goalkeeper was unlucky on Saturday due to a foul on him and a defensive mistake giving him no chance of saving either chance.
	<----Ian Pearce Pearce has been one of the best players in the last two games and it shows that he’s actually supposed to be played at the back (rather than the upfront position Sutton seemed to think was his best position.
	Swaibu is expected to return to the starting line up following on from Watts’ injury. The defender did well replacing Watts the other day and given that he’s now one of just two fully fit centre backs at the club.
	Anderson had a bit of a nightmare the other day and was one of those at fault for Grimsby’s second.
	Hughton has been a bit quiet in recent matches, but should still easily continue against Port Vale.
	<---Matt Saunders  Saunders played reasonably well in Saturday’s game at Grimsby and much like Herd, is a midfielder who can link up the midfield with the attack, something we’ve been in desperate need of in recent months.
	The longest serving player at Sincil Bank has faced Port Vale four times, losing three of those, so it’s safe to say he’ll want a repeat of last season’s 1-0 win at Port Vale.
	<----Chris Herd   Chris makes his return to his former club on Tuesday night so it could be interesting to see if he’ll avoid some of the challenges that see him as our second highest booked player (with seven yellow cards). Still a class above anything we have.
	A candidate for the most improved player of the season is Gilmour. The Scot may have taken an awful penalty the other day, but showed great instincts by plopping it in…..a good recovery given that he also played the pass too short to Anderson for Grimsby’s second.
	<----Drewe Broughton  Much improved in the game against Grimsby but still never really looked like scoring. Then again, he seems to be getting a decent partnership with Lennon going.
	<---Steven Lennon   The Scot was quiet on Saturday when comparing him to his recent standards, but he still looks the most likely out of any striker to score.

The clubs haven't met that often in recent years, but there was a LDV Vans Trophy Northern Final tie between the two back in 2000/1. The Imps had been drawn at home in every single round and had won every game under Stant in that competition, but Alan Buckley was manager by the time the final was played and a 2-0 aggregate victory for Port Vale was enough to send them through to face Brentford......a match they eventually won.

It took under the 2006/7 season for the clubs to meet again, this time in the FA Cup. City started the game well but fell behind from Port Vale's first shot on goal, a weak Danny Whittaker effort from distance somehow evaded everyone and went in the net. Akpo Sodje extended the lead a few minutes later. City pulled one back through Frecklington before Stallard had a chance blocked on the line in the very last minute.

Port Vale entered the division last season and both sides won their away games 1-0. City dominated the game at Sincil Bank, knowing a victory would likely take them into the top seven for the first time under Jackson, but a long range volley from Howland was the only goal. N'Guessan scored the winning goal at Vale Park.

Earlier this season City produced one of their best performances under Sutton up until that point, but fell behind just before half time as Richards pounced on a backpass to prod the ball beyond Burch. A Martin own goal drew the Imps level before Louis Dodds scored against his former side to give Vale the victory.

Port Vale had started the season reasonably well, beating both Sheffield clubs in the Carling Cup and they were in the promotion race early on after only losing once before the middle of September. A 4-0 win over Grimsby appeared to be a mini-turn around of results as they failed to win for a month. A nine game unbeaten run soon put them back up the table and through several cup competitions.

Their form after that could best be described as inconsistent, going on runs without defeats but not winning many, or going on winless runs. However, whilst their home form was sketchy, their away form was excellent. A recent 1-0 defeat at Burton was their first away League defeat since a 3-1 reverse at Notts County.

Port Vale have collected four more points on the road than they have gained at home, but strangely they have a better goal difference at home than away. Infact, only Rochdale and Notts County in the whole division have conceded fewer than Port Vale, but worryingly only five teams have scored fewer, including Lincoln.

Geoff Horsfield joined Port Vale after leaving the Imps last season and is their current assistant manager. He certainly wasn't pleased after Saturday's home defeat to Barnet, resulting in the Bees' winning away after ten straight defeats on the road.

""I thought we were very poor and I don't think it's too strong a word to say that some of us were cowards, a lot of the players will be wondering if they will be playing on Tuesday night. We, as a team, aren't looking at the Playoffs because we're taking each game as it comes," he told the BBC.

Horsfield is one of two former Imps at Vale Park, the other being Louis Dodds. Defender John McCombe is also the brother of former City man Jamie. City's squad has two former Valiants, Paul Musslewhite and Chris Herd