Port Vale coach Rob Page spoke to his club’s official website ahead of his side’s League One game at home to Carlisle on Saturday afternoon, Page a former team-mate of Blues boss Graham Kavanagh:
“Having played with Graham Kavanagh at Cardiff, I know what he is all about and his work ethic. He hates losing with a passion in anything he does and having trained with him I have seen that first hand.I always remember Graham when he was at Cardiff, he was the captain at the time and you could see that he has those leadership qualities.He has been an assistant so he has done his apprenticeship and he has worked at it and he is doing alright and he will do well.
“He is going to instil that passion into his players, so we expect a really tough game and we are not taking it lightly.We are going to approach the game in exactly the same manner which we did against Wolves, Brentford, Leyton Orient and all of the top teams, there will be no difference in our approach.
“We know it is going to be a tough game and if we approach it in any different way, with any less enthusiasm and endeavour, we will set ourselves up for a fall and we won’t allow the players to do that.We are all looking forward to the game. It is one that we are confident if we are all at the races and we do what are good at and what we have done for the last couple of years then there should only be one result.”
Meanwhile Vale midfielder Chris Lines told his club’s official website:
“You wouldn’t have thought we were going to carry on playing like we have been because in the last four or five games we have been poor, but for the rest of the games this season we have been tremendous. If we can get back to that – hopefully we have had our bad spell – we will either stay where we are or move up a little bit in the table.
“Saturday’s game against Carlisle United is massively important for us. The fact that we haven’t had a great run is going to make us more motivated for the game. We are going from Wolves away to Carlisle at home, but if anything this game is more important. The Wolves game was a great to play against a great team and obviously we were disappointed not to go and win after where we were at half time, but the chances of us winning there were very slight.
“But playing against Carlisle at home, with respect you have got to be looking for three points when you are playing teams below you and we fancy ourselves to beat them. The last two or three home games have been ruined by the weather, but hopefully it will be decent on Saturday. The pitch is looking a bit better now so we have got to go into the game with confidence and try and snap out of this little bad month we have had.”
In team news for the Valiants tomorrow they will be missing three players, while another is rated on the good side of 50-50 to take his place in the matchday squad. Firstly absent is on-loan Sheffield United midfielder Florent Cuvelier who has been ruled out for the rest of the season, after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament, while the second player watching from the sidelines is centre-half Liam Chilvers who had a minor operation on his groin last week.
The final player missing meanwhile being midfielder Rob Taylor who has been struggling recently with a knee injury. Better news for Vale boss Micky Adams though is that defensive midfielder Anthony Griffith, who was forced to sit out last weekend’s 3-0 defeat at Wolves with a hip problem, was able to train late this week and looks set for at least a place on the Valiants substitute bench.
The referee for tomorrow's match is Scott Duncan from Newcastle and he will be assisted down the lines by Robert Jones from Wallasey on the Wirrral and Ricky Wootton from Wakefield. Meanwhile, the fourth official is Simon Mather from Drolysden in Greater Manchester.