Southampton Shrimper
Team Eggheads
Port Vale are the visitors to the Hall on Saturday, as a rejuvenated Southend side will probably look to field all three of this week's new signings. Port Vale have a bit of a selection nightmare, however, as first-teamers Stuart Tomlinson and Rob Taylor are out through injury, with a further fringe player injured, two long-term injuries, two players doubtful and another facing a late fitness test. On top of that, their five loan signings have all returned to their parent clubs, including our triallist Shane O'Connor, although he did not play a game for Vale. Vale manager Micky Adams commented "We've got and work with what we've got, if that means supplementing the squad with youth players, then that's what we've got to do."
We will be looking to improve on our run of only one win in our last eight games, and our last win at home in the League came two months ago, which was also the last time we managed to score more than once at home. Port Vale had a good run of three consecutive wins in December, but they are the only victories they have had in their last 11 games, and they have lost their last two. They have kept only two clean sheets away from home all season, both against teams in the bottom six, and the last one was on 25 October.
We will be looking not only for our first League double of the season, but also our first double against Port Vale since 1967. We may have lost to them only once in our last five encounters, but we have managed only one win against them at Roots Hall in the last 25 years.
I'll go for a 2-1 win, Hall and Benyon the scorers, with a crowd of just over 6,100.
We will be looking to improve on our run of only one win in our last eight games, and our last win at home in the League came two months ago, which was also the last time we managed to score more than once at home. Port Vale had a good run of three consecutive wins in December, but they are the only victories they have had in their last 11 games, and they have lost their last two. They have kept only two clean sheets away from home all season, both against teams in the bottom six, and the last one was on 25 October.
We will be looking not only for our first League double of the season, but also our first double against Port Vale since 1967. We may have lost to them only once in our last five encounters, but we have managed only one win against them at Roots Hall in the last 25 years.
I'll go for a 2-1 win, Hall and Benyon the scorers, with a crowd of just over 6,100.