Vale feeling Brady's 'positivity and passion' - Waine

Port Vale's Vertu Trophy match-winner Ben Waine says the squad can feel the "passion and positivity" that has come into the club with the arrival of new manager Jon Brady.

Former Northampton boss Brady has now overseen back-to-back wins since taking over from Darren Moore, with Waine's 90th-minute winner seeing off Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday to book Vale's place in the quarter-finals of the EFL Trophy.

With a tie against Championship side Bristol City in the fourth round of the FA Cup to come, Vale are one step closer to a potential trip to Wembley with their exploits in the Vertu Trophy.

Waine was was part of Plymouth's run to the final in 2023 before injury denied him the chance to play at Wembley, but the thought of getting back there is a tantalising prospect.

"Once you get out of the group stage and you realise how close you are to playing at Wembley - it's a massive occasion," Waine told BBC Radio Stoke.

"I was injured at the time [with Plymouth] so I couldn't play but I experienced it and the atmosphere was amazing.

"So to picture that and think about it, it's a big motivator."

Waine hopes Vale's confident performances in the cups this season can rub off on their league form which is in desperate need of a lift with the club 11 points adrift of safety at the bottom of League One.

And he says Brady has brought a fresh impetus.

"You can feel that passion and the positivity that's come into the team," the New Zealand forward said.

"He hasn't had much time with us but I think it would be easy to come in and overload everyone but, to be fair, it's been kept very simple and we keep building on it game by game.

"People have done well to take on the information but I also think it's been managed quite well.

"We've built some momentum now and we'll keep that going and building on it and we can learn from the gaffer in games and take it into the league."