Wanderers Head Coach Steven Schumacher expects a tough game when Port Vale visit the Toughsheet Community Stadium on Saturday afternoon, but he is confident that his side can continue their winning form at home.
The Whites remain unbeaten on home soil in Sky Bet League One and will be aiming for a fourth straight victory in all competitions following on from last weekend’s 2-1 triumph over Huddersfield Town in the Emirates FA Cup.
Attention now returns to the visit of Darren Moore’s Valiants who will make the journey from Staffordshire, with Schumacher previewing the fixture.
Schumacher told Wanderers TV: “It will be a tough game. I was surprised when I looked at their league position as I don’t think they are a team who deserve to be down where they are at the moment. I think from an attacking point of view, they have created big chances all season and they haven’t given up their goal either.
“They seem like they are doing a lot of good things, but they are getting punished in big moments, which is what we’ve spoken about a lot this season.
"I think it will be a tough game, I think it will be a game that if we get on the front foot and off to a good start and get the first goal, it will be crucial but if we don’t do that, we must find a way to stay patient and calm and try and find a way to win.
“The performances have been good at home, we’ve drawn two games and probably should have won both of them, but the way that we’ve played has been good, it’s been positive and good to watch, the last two results have been against top, top opposition and we want to try and continue that momentum.
“Our place shouldn’t be an easy place to come and play and when we get the crowd involved and get that atmosphere going, it should be intimidating, and we want to try and do that the best we can at the weekend.
“It’s doing what’s required, it’s sticking to the plan and keep playing the way we have been playing. We feel as though we have been doing a lot of things well, not only just attacking wise but defensively without the ball we have been really solid and working incredibly hard as a team, we want that to continue because if we do that, we’ve got enough quality in the squad to score goals.”
It has been a positive week for Wanderers in training at Lostock, and after a rotated team for the Huddersfield win, the Head Coach believes his side can deliver another strong performance.
He added: “The atmosphere has been good, the lads have trained well, we had a good performance last week having made seven changes, I thought we would have done as there shouldn’t be a drop in the level of that performance, and there wasn’t, and the result that we got was excellent.
“We wanted to get into the next round of the cup and we did that. Training has been really good and really sharp all week.
“No matter what team we pick, we think that we’ve got good players, there’s competition for places in the squad and there’s good strength in depth, the injury situation is easing which is good, and whatever team we choose to play against Port Vale, we should have enough to get the result that we want if we perform properly, so that’s what we try.”
Watch Steven’s pre-match interview in full on Wanderers TV by clicking here.
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