Preview: Port Vale vs Exeter City - prediction, team news, lineups

Port Vale welcome Exeter City to Vale Park for their latest instalment of League One action on Saturday afternoon.

The Valiants fell to a 3-0 defeat away at Mansfield Town last weekend, while the Grecians put in an impressive performance to beat Stevenage 3-0 at St James Park.

Match preview

Since gaining automatic promotion from League Two last season, Port Vale fans have had very little to cheer about as their side currently sit bottom of the League One table with only 18 points after 24 matches.

After the club's dismal start to the campaign, winning only three of their first 22 league matches, Darren Moore was sacked from his post as manager on December 28, with the Valiants seven points adrift at the foot of the division.

However, since Moore's departure both caretaker boss Jamie Smith and new permanent manager Jon Brady have done an outstanding job of steadying the ship, with Port Vale winning three of their four matches this year.

Despite their shaky campaign, the Valiants have been fairly solid at Vale Park, winning four of their previous five matches at home and conceding only 13 league goals this season, two fewer than division leaders Cardiff City.

When these sides met at St James Park earlier in the season, Port Vale ran out 2-0 victors with goals from Ruari Paton and Devante Cole earning them all three points.

Besides their crushing 10-1 defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup a fortnight ago, Exeter have looked promising recently and are slowly pulling away from the League One relegation zone.

In what is a congested division, the Grecians are currently six points off the playoff places and four above the relegation zone, although they have at least one game in hand on many of the teams around them.

Gary Caldwell's side have won six of their previous 10 matches in all competitions and have been especially strong at home, with their most recent defeat at St James Park coming against Huddersfield on September 27.

However, Exeter have certainly faltered on the road, with only three sides in the division picking up fewer than their 10 points away from home.

The previous time these sides met at Vale Park in April 2024, the Grecians ran out 4-2 winners, despite being two goals down at the break.

Port Vale League One form:

Port Vale form (all competitions):

Exeter City League One form:

Exeter City form (all competitions):

Team News

For Saturday's clash, Port Vale will be without Ben Garrity and Connor Hall, both of whom have been unavailable for over a month.

It remains to be seen whether midfielder George Byers features on Saturday after being withdrawn from the pitch in only the 14th minute against Mansfield.

Following last weekend's match, Brady also confirmed that Marvin Johnson's time at Vale Park has come to an end upon the expiry of his short-term contract.

Exeter continue to miss Ryan Rydel, Pedro Borges, Johnly Yfeko and Danny Andrew through injury.

Jack McMillan has been unavailable for the previous two Grecian matches, although he is only expected to miss a short period of time and could return this weekend.

After signing on loan from Sunderland for the remainder of the season, Ukrainian striker Timur Tuterov scored on his City debut last weekend and looks likely to start against Port Vale.

Port Vale possible starting lineup:

Amos; John, Heneghan, Humphreys; Clark, Croasdale, Ojo, Shipley, Headley; Brown, Cole

Exeter City possible starting lineup:

Whitworth; Sweeney, Fitzwater, Woodhouse; Niskanen, Brierley, Aitchison, Doyle-Hayes, Oakes; Wareham, Tuterov

We say: Port Vale 1-2 Exeter City

For the first time this season, Exeter will be looking above them rather than below them in the table, especially with the promising string of results they have produced recently.

While Port Vale seemed to have started from fresh under Brady, we think the Grecians will just edge them and extend their gap to the relegation zone.

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