Tuesday 10 November 2009
Johnstone's Paint Trophy Area Quarter-Final
Bradford City vs Port Vale
A warm welcome to Micky Adams, his Port Vale, staff, players and the supporters for this evening's game.
Right from the word go we've been serious about this competition as you saw with the team we put out for the first round at Rochdale.
We want to go as far as we can and as each step goes by, the excitement will grow. So everybody is looking forward to this game and hopefully we can look to progress again.
We've played Port Vale at home before this season so we know what they are all about. They haven't been beaten for a while and got a good draw down at Dagenham recently.
We know from the game here that they will make life tough for us but we will be going all out to get the win. Looking back at the Notts County game again, while I was obviously disappointed to get knocked out of the FA Cup, the performance was really pleasing.
In the first half we both had a couple of chances each and it was only when we went down to ten men with Evo off the field that we conceded a goal. It was a cruel blow, particularly with the way the ball went in by deflecting off Easty and through Willo's legs on the line.
Then to come back out and get smacked again straight away with a second goal made it very difficult. At 2-0 down it could have been a long second half and conceding further goals could have damaged us in the long run.
But we stuck to our task admirably and really came back into it. Speaking to their coaching staff after the game, they admitted it was a bit backs to the wall after we got our goal and they were relieved to get to the final whistle.
We can take the positives from that because Notts County are a very strong team at home and I felt we competed with them really well.
On the downside, Evo's injury adds another one to the list and we are also without Bully tonight after he got his fifth yellow card.
But I will put out the best possible team and I'm sure the fans will get right behind them to roar us on to victory. Enjoy the game
Stuart McCall
