Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale says they are only going to be looking at the last three matches of their opponents in preparation for their game against Port Vale.
The Valiants, who are 22nd in League Two, sacked their manager Michael Brown following a 1-1 draw with Forest Green Rovers on Saturday, September 16. They went on to lose their next three matches, but having appointed Neil Aspin as boss in early October the club have won two out of their last three games.
Asked what he was expecting of Port Vale this Saturday, Tis said: “If you had asked me that three weeks ago it would have been a different conversation but they have changed their manager,” he said.
“I don’t know the manager at Port Vale but I do know that he has made a big difference and I know that he has probably done what I would have done.
“He has stiffened his team’s resolve and they have suddenly tightened up. I’m sure he has concentrated on basics and I think he has made some very shrewd decisions and given his team some very shrewd direction.
“And they have just won two games and they look like a really strong unit. I suppose over a length of time, the rest of the season, they’ll find a level but at the moment he has got a team that have been battered, I suppose, mentally for a couple of months with losses who have now pulled together and shown some real resolve.”
So does the change around in form pose any problems for Tis when trying to analyse what to expect from Port Vale?
“I think we can only really concentrate on the last two or three weeks,” he said. “It is no good looking at their previous results. They have had a really good three games since he has been in charge and that is what is now relevant and that is what we have to get our thinking from.
“Based on that we are going to get a game against a competitive, focused, well-organised team, who are all pulling in one direction, and that normally means a tough game.”
Jordan Moore-Taylor and Luke Croll remain doubts for Saturday’s match but other than that the club have no fresh injury concerns.