Dale travel to Vale Park this Tuesday
Port Vale v RochdaleVale Park, November 6th 2012, 7.45pm kick-off
Rochdale head to high flying Port Vale this Tuesday night as John Coleman’s side return to League Two action following Saturday’s FA Cup clash against Morecambe.
The Valiants have been beaten just once at home so far this season with their only defeat coming against league leaders Gillingham in September. This type of form sees them sitting second in the division.
Manager John Coleman has been reflecting on Saturday’s 1-1 draw at the Globe arena and looks ahead to Tuesday night’s encounter at Vale Park.
“Fair play to Morecambe, they came out the traps bright and deservedly took the lead. It took us about 20 minutes to get going but when we did I thought we were fantastic. There were some really fantastic performances; I thought Jason Kennedy was magnificent, he was back to the Jason Kennedy that I know we’ve got and what makes him one of the best players in the league.
“[Barry] Roche is a very good goalkeeper and thankfully we made him bring them saves about, and we were unfortunate to hit the bar. But our ‘keeper has made a couple of decent saves – he made a brilliant one in the first half and a great one in the second half so it probably wasn’t as one sided as people will make it out to be. I know we had a lot of possession and a lot of chances, but Morecambe, the way they started in the first 15 minutes, and on the counter attack, showed that tie is not dead by any means.”
He continued: “Every game we play we expect it to be tough, but as I’ve said from day one I want to give the teams that we play a tough game. We know it’ll be a tough game against Port Vale and we know when we play Morecambe in the replay that it’ll be a tough game because they proved that when they came to our place and deservedly beat us.”
Match officials
Referee – Andy Woolmer
Assistant referees - Joe Clark and Nigel Smith
Fourth Official - Peter Gooch
Last league meeting
The teams met twice during the 2009/10 season, both of which finished in a draw.
August 8th 2009: Port Vale 1-1 Rochdale
Joe Thompson put Dale ahead on the 66th minute before Marc Richards leveled from the spot nine minutes later.
January 26th 2010: Rochdale 0-0 Port Vale
The game at Spotland ended in a goalless draw.