Port Vale can end a lengthy League Two winless run on Wednesday as they begin 2025 by welcoming Cheltenham Town to Vale Park.
A 3-0 defeat to Grimsby Town last weekend dropped the Valiants down to fourth in the table, while Cheltenham are 14th following a 5-3 loss versus Notts County.
Match preview
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One of the most consistent sides in the league at the start of the season have suddenly slowed down, with Port Vale going winless in their last seven domestic affairs.
That has them just outside the top three and an automatic promotion, though the two teams currently ahead of Vale, Doncaster Rovers and Notts County, are only above them on goal difference.
In recent weeks, finding the back of the net has been particularly difficult for Port Vale, who are goalless in three of their previous four domestic games.
Darren Moore's men have just two points from their previous three home fixtures in this competition, dropping four points domestically from a winning position at Vale Park this season.
Vale have won just one of their previous eight league contests to open a calendar year, defeating Forest Green 3-1 on New Year's Day 2023.
At the campaign's midway point, the Valiants have accumulated 37 points, 11 more than they had at this stage a season ago.
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What was a solid December for Cheltenham ended on a difficult note as they saw their six-match unbeaten run across all competitions end.
That loss on Sunday also ended their run of nine consecutive matches without a defeat at home, conceding as many goals this past weekend as they had in their previous four league contests combined.
On Wednesday, Michael Flynn will be seeking his first away victory since early November against Rotherham United in the FA Cup (3-1), while they have not won a road game in this competition since late October (1-0 over Carlisle United).
Cheltenham are winless in five straight football league fixtures to begin a calendar year, all of which occurred away from home.
The Robins can win consecutive away matches against Port Vale for only the second time after doing it previously in 2011 and 2012.
Team News
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Over the weekend, the Vale were missing Benicio Baker-Boaitey, George Byers and captain Ben Garrity because of injuries, while Tom Sang was out with a red card suspension.
Against Grimsby Town, we saw four new faces who did not start their previous game versus Bradford City, with Mitch Clark, Jack Shorrock, Rico Richards and Ruari Paton replacing Jason Lowe, Brandon Cover, Sang and Jayden Stockley.
We saw the same starting 11 for Cheltenham this past weekend, with four newcomers coming off the bench who did not play on Boxing Day, as Matty Taylor, Ryan Bowman, Liam Dulson and Lewis Payne replaced Luke Young, George Miller, Ethon Archer and Ibrahim Bakare, respectively.
Goals by Sam Stubbs, Bowman and Joel Colwill were ultimately not enough to earn them anything on Sunday against Notts County.
Port Vale possible starting lineup:
Ripley; John, Debrah, Heneghan, Hall, Shorrock; Richards, Croasdale, Curtis; Hackford, Tolaj
Cheltenham Town possible starting lineup:
Day; Jude-Boyd, Bakare, Stubbs, Bradbury; Young, Kinsella; Thomas, Colwill, Pett; Miller
We say: Port Vale 3-2 Cheltenham Town
A new year is approaching, and we expect to see Port Vale turn over a new leaf and find their goalscoring form on Wednesday against a side that conceded multiple goals three times last month.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
