Interim Manager previews tonight's trip to Port Vale
Dean Saunders comes up against former Wales’ team-mate Rob Page in the Port Vale dugout tonight and expects a tough 90 minutes for resurgent Reds.
Saturday’s 3-2 win at Colchester has given Reds real hope of climbing out of the League One relegation zone with 11 games to go.
But Vale still have ambitions of a tilt at the play-offs and will be desperate to bounce back after a 1-0 home loss to Swindon on Saturday.
Dean said: “I played with Pagey for Wales. I used to chase a lot of his defensive clearances!
“He’s a terrific fella and has done a great job there at Port Vale. They are a strong side, particularly at home, and it will take a very good performance from us to get a result.”
Reds have never won at Vale Park and Dean admits this would be a great time to end that run.
“We got a terrific three points on Saturday at Colchester. The challenge for the players now is to back it up,” he added.
“The funny thing is the performance wasn’t as good as some of our other recent games but the points are more important now.
“I’d settle for four or five scrappy 1-0 wins between now and the end of the season. The spirit in the squad is really good. The boys all believe we can get out of trouble but we have to keep trying to improve all over the pitch.”
Ryan Dickson and Lewis Young both picked up knocks on Saturday but travelled to the Potteries and Dean reports no other injury worries.
He added: “It’s a big pitch there which ought to help us but it’s going to take a really good performance from us, which I think we can produce, to get any sort of result.”
