Preview:Accrington Stanley vs Port Vale - prediction, team news, lineups

Accrington Stanley will take on Port Vale in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday, 7 October, with the hosts in need of a win to keep their hopes of cup glory alive this season.

For the visitors, a point will do after winning their opening EFL Trophy fixture, but a win would guarantee safe passage through to the knockout stages of the competition.

Match preview

The clash on Tuesday night will be a welcome break from league action for Accrington Stanley, who have not started the new League Two season particularly well.

After ten games played, Stanley find themselves in 20th position, with just two wins on the board. A defeat on Tuesday could also pile the pressure on manager John Doolan, who could only lead the club to a 21st-place finish in his first full season as manager.

Doolan took over the reins at the back end of the 2023-24 campaign after a promising period as interim manager, but results and performances last season left the club flirting with relegation throughout.

Last time out, Stanley succumbed to a 2-0 defeat to newly-promoted side Barnet. Finishing was the biggest problem on the day for Doolan's side, failing to score from any of the 15 shots they had on goal.

Considering the pressure that Doolan and his players are under after a slow start, they could have wished for nicer opponents than Port Vale this week.

Darren Moore's men were promoted to League One from League Two last season and have recently started to find their feet in the third tier of English football, with three wins and one draw from their four most recent league outings.

A standout performance in this run was the 2-0 away win against Barnsley on 27 September. If Vale can find the form they showed at Oakwell on a consistent basis, then relegation back to League One will not even be a consideration this season.

Vale also impressed in a recent EFL Cup clash with Arsenal and were good value for their win against Leeds United Under-21s in their opening EFL Trophy match.

Moore's men come into the match on the back of a drab 0-0 draw with Northampton Town, so will be keen to put on more of a show for their supporters on Tuesday night, with player rotation expected.

Accrington Stanley EFL Trophy form:

Accrington Stanley form (all competitions):

L L W W L L

Port Vale EFL Trophy form:

Port Vale form (all competitions):

L W W L W D

Team News

Accrington Stanley will go searching for an important victory on Tuesday night without three first-team players due to injury.

Shaun Whalley, Farrend Rawson and Tyler Walton are all in the treatment room, while Devon Matthews picked up his fifth booking of the season at the weekend against Barnet but will serve his suspension in the league instead.

With Walton out injured, the goalscoring burden will fall on the shoulders of Charlie Caton, and the pressure is on after Doolan criticised his forwards' finishing abilities at the weekend.

Meanwhile, Port Vale boss Moore could elect to shuffle his pack after a busy couple of weeks of league and EFL Cup action.

However, on the flip side, Port Vale do have momentum at present, and they can wrap up EFL Trophy qualification with a win on Tuesday night.

Regardless of what Moore decides to do, he will travel up north on Tuesday without Liam Gordon, Mitchell Clark and Kyle John, with the trio ruled out through injuries.

Accrington Stanley possible starting lineup:

Wright; Smith, Ward, Love; Brown, Sinclair, Conneely, Bauress, Heath; Caton, Woods

Port Vale possible starting lineup:

Gauci; Debrah, Hall, Humphreys; Gabriel, Shipley, Garrity, Byers, Headley; Brown, Cole

We say: Accrington Stanley 1-2 Port Vale

Port Vale have a strong recent record against Accrington, losing just one of their last five meetings with Stanley.

When you consider that, on top of the fact that they are now a league higher than Accrington in the English football pyramid, all signs point towards an away victory on Tuesday.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.