FL2: Port Vale v Torquay 25 November 2011

After five wins in a row including those on the road at Crewe and Chesterfield the Gulls can travel to Port Vale in good heart and £5 admission fee this Friday should keep everyone making the journey, smiling for at least that little bit longer.

As is often the case when things are going well, it could be a good time to play them as they struggle with injuries with eight first team players currently undergoing treatment and without some improvement, Adams is considering dipping his toe into the loan market. Vale haven't scored in the last three games and with four strikers out in Richards, Williamson, Haldane and Little it is obviously affecting them although they still have players like Pope to turn out for them.

Vale, have only won once in the last six matches, 0-3 away to Bristol Rovers, whilst losing four but a note of caution, all to the form teams of Cheltenham, Swindon, Oxford and Morecambe respectively! Their only draw was against Grimsby in the FA Cup and with the replay away on Tuesday, it remains to be seen whether then playing on Friday will have any adverse impact on them. This season Vale have only drawn once at home in the league with an equal number of wins and losses in the other eight games so take your pick as to a certain result or an overdue draw! ;D

As for Torquay, we have a great replacement for Saah in Robertson but will miss Eunan in the middle and it will be interesting to see how Ling overcomes this. My initial thoughts were that McPhee could come in and work in the same 4-3-3 formation as an attacking midfielder alongside Mansell with Lathrope continuing in the holding role. However, Ohtobe suggested playing Bodin in the hole and starting the returning to form Morris on the wing in a 4-4-1-1 set up. I can see merit in both systems and although my gut feeling is to stick with 4-3-3, it will come down to how Ling sees the players fitting into each formation. At least he has the best part of a week's training to get the set up right.