Carlisle United head coach Mike Williamson has been telling supporters what he expects from Saturday’s game at second-in-the-table Port Vale.
He says: “It’s another game that’s going to be high energy and obviously the experience they’ve got, the recruitment they did in the summer after coming down I think was really good.
“But they’re a team that I think we can hurt in transition again, so we’ve got obviously to deal with the physical threat.
“They’ve got Stockley up front and the willing runners they’ve got in their eights, they play a similar formation and style where they want to build from the back but they’ve got a good platform going forward so I expect it to be open for us.
“We want to quieten the crowd as much as we possibly can and take our chances when we get them, but we’ve we’ve got to be more diligent in our individual 1v1 defending, I think that’s the main thing.”
On Darren Moore, the Port Vale manager, Williamson said: “He’s somebody that’s worked at the very highest level and he’s obviously had his plaudits this season.
“He’s got a lot of experience, he sets up a team to be very disciplined and similar to Chesterfield I think he won’t accept anything that’s less than 100% application.
“We’re looking forward to it. We know it’s going to be a challenge but our focus is on how we can improve from last week.”
Over 600 tickets have been bought by Carlisle fans heading for the Potteries and Williamson praised the fans’ commitment.
He said: “They’re just a credit to the football club. The fans probably couldn’t have endured a worse calendar 12 months.
“Their last couple of seasons has been tough and I fully expect and understand the frustration and the disappointment.
“All I can say is it’s very much echoed in this side as well, we haven’t been good enough but what I can guarantee is we’ll work our absolute socks off and those boys are giving everything they possibly can every single day to improve, and you will see a full-blooded performance regardless of the outcome but it’s fantastic to see the support.”
