VALIANTS AIM FOR ‘MASSIVE’ SUCCESS
Askey’s troops in the fight for promotion
UPBEAT Port Vale boss John Askey has urged his troops to embrace the challenge of pushing for League Two promotion.
Vale stormed into the play-off places on the back of three impressive wins in a week – they won 1-0 at Northampton, triumphed 3-2 at Forest Green and then hammered Colchester 3-0 last Saturday.
That nine-point haul lifted the Valiants to sixth and put them right in the play-off mix. Heading into yesterday’s game at Walsall, they had lost just two of their last ten league games and appear to be hitting form at just the right time.
It’s in stark contrast to last February when Askey came in with the club treading water and looking solely to retain their place in the Football League. A year on, they’re looking to go out of League Two via the front door.
“From when I took over, there’s been a big change around,” said Askey, whose dad Colin is a Vale legend. “We’ve got new owners and there’s a feelgood factor around the club.
Pressure
“We’ve had a little bit of success and people are getting behind us.
“We were taking two and a half thousand fans to Walsall and there’s been a snowball effect, but we are guarded and won’t get carried away.
“The good run we’ve had recently has pushed us in there and it’s a nice place to be at this time of the season.
“It’s where you want to be and there’s far less pressure than last season when we had to win to stay in the league.”
Askey, right, famously guided unfancied Macclesfield to the National League title a couple of years ago. Taking Port Vale to the play-offs might not quite match that achievement, but it would still be no mean feat in his first full season at the helm.
“It would be massive,” said the 55-year-old. “We are getting decent gates and we’re a big club for the division we’re in, but our wage bill is still only about the 17th highest in the league. We’ve also still got most of the same team from last year.”
A plus for Askey is that different players have been chipping in with goals of late.
Only Tom Pope (ten) has hit double figures and Vale have been sharing the goals around, Mark Cullen weighing in with two in last week’s success against Colchester.
Movement
“We rely on movement, we play 4-3-3 the majority of the time and we are looking for our wide men and midfielders to get in the box,” explained Askey.
“We aren’t just relying on one person, like some clubs. It’s more of a team effort.” In their final 11 games of the season, Vale will meet fellow promotion candidates Cheltenham, Bradford, Crewe and Plymouth, the latter in the final game of the season. Askey views that as a positive.
The former Shrewsbury boss added: “We’ve done well against the teams at the top of the table.
“It’s the supposedly lesser teams we’ve struggled against.
“If we’d only played the top ten teams, I think we’d be about ten points clear!
“If we are still in there, they are good games for the players to play in.”