Port Vale hope to break winless duck as the Valiants host struggling Scunthorpe United

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Darrell Clarke’s Port Vale take on Scunthorpe United as both sides will hope to clinch their first victory of 2022.

Port Vale have struggled since returning to action following a COVID-19 outbreak over Christmas, with their only point of the new year coming last Saturday in a goalless draw against Leyton Orient at The Breyer Group Stadium.

Saturday’s hosts have been active in the transfer market since then. Tomas Holy joined the club on loan from Ipswich Town on Thursday as did Oxford United winger Joel Cooper.

The club also confirmed the signing of Harry Charsley on a permanent deal from fellow promotion hopefuls Mansfield Town, and is available for selection against Scunthorpe.

Vale sit 10th in the league, five points off seventh-placed Mansfield who round off the play-off places.

Clarke insists that there is still plenty to play for this season and is not ruling out the possibility of breaking into the top seven.

When BBC Radio Stoke’s Phil Bowers provided the stat that Vale have scored more points at this point of the season than in the last five seasons since relegation from League One in 2017, the Port Vale manager was surprised yet pleased with the achievement, however, he was adamant he would not get carried away by it.

“That’s a great point, I wasn’t aware of that, I’m surprised but I look at that saying well this squad is the best it has been in the last five years.

“If you’ve had to look at that with all the problems we have had, with injuries and having played several games without a recognised striker.

“We are playing a little bit of catch-up in rhythm and connections – we have had some great connections this season but a lot of them have been dismantled.

“But nothing is achieved now, we want to be pushing to finish in the top seven.”

Meanwhile, Scunthorpe come into this one losing all five of their last five games and sit six points away from safety.

The Irons’ most recent test came on Tuesday as they lost 3-2 to Bristol Rovers with Sam Burns’ brace not enough to claw back the margin that the Gas had.

New signing Tyrese Sinclair made his debut for the club in the defeat after he arrived on loan from the Stags. The youngster could add some nifty skill and trickery to try and break down the Vale backline to seal what will be a crucial three points at the foot of the table.

Scunthorpe boss Keith Hill gave his thoughts on this weekend’s opponents as he expresses his respect to the Valiants.

“With respect to the opposition, they were my outstanding favourites to get promoted at the beginning of the season, purely because of the recruitment drive they went on and they have a real methodology in the way they want to play.

“Their recruitment and structure behind the scenes is all driven towards success, but on that road there are little bumps where you don’t have positive results and have to reset quickly.”

Team News

Vale will be without club captain Tom Conlon for another month as he continues to recover from an Achilles injury. They will also be without right wing-back James Gibbons after he was forced off against Orient with a hamstring problem and will return to training at a similar time to Conlon, which Port Vale manager Darrell Clarke confirmed.

Goalkeeper Lucas Covolan will be out for another two games after he was dismissed for violent conduct in Vale’s 3-1 defeat to Swindon Town a fortnight ago.

Lewis Cass has suffered a double ligament tear in training this week which has cut his season short and has returned to his parent club Newcastle United for his rehabilitation.

For Scunthorpe, they will be without Mason O’Malley after he was bought off on Tuesday night with a hamstring problem.

Head-to-Head

These two sides have met on 49 occasions, Vale have won 17 ties narrowly edging Scunthorpe’s 16 wins, with the remaining 16 meetings ending in a stalemate.

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