Brady wants Vale to make key Burton game 'our day'

Port Vale have to make Saturday's vital home game against fellow relegation rivals Burton Albion "our day" says manager Jon Brady.

Vale are still bottom of the table, 10 points from safety, and have won one of the four league games Brady has been in charge of since replacing Darren Moore at the club in early January.

Meanwhile their opponents, the Brewers, are one of three sides on 31 points and are in the bottom four on goal difference.

Brady said he will be sending his team out at Vale Park with some simple instructions.

"We want to outrun the opposition and win more duels than the opposition," he told BBC Radio Stoke.

"We want to nullify their threats and exploit their weaknesses.

"They'll want to do the same but that's our gameplan.

"The boys know if we can do that we can win the game. If you stop this we can win the game and it's about them having the confidence to do that."

In a bid to boost Vale's lack of goals, former Luton, Burnley and Watford striker Andre Gray was brought in on a deal until the end of the season on Monday from Turkish club Fatih Karagumruk.

The 34-year-old arrived after Vale's leading scorer, Devante Cole, moved to Luton days earlier.

Brady said Cole's quick departure left them scrambling to find a replacement.

"It was dropped on us late Devante's situation," Brady said.

"This isn't to put Devante down but his head had been turned massively and there was no coming back and we had to get the best deal for the club.

"He wanted to go and his head wasn't here so what do you do? I want players who want to be here."

Brady said he has had to work a "miracle" managing the game time of Jaydon Stockley and Dajaune Brown because "they can't really get through a full 90 minutes and I've had to be clever with their workload".

"I've trimmed the group down and already the group is tight knit and they all want to be here, want to go through this fight, want to compete."

Gray, who has scored more than 150 goals in his career, is set for his debut against the Brewers but Everton loanee Martin Sherif is out because of concussion protocols.

"Strikers are the rarest commodity in football but we've found a very good one who's done very well in the EFL before and in the Turkish league," Brady said.

"You have to put the ball in the back of the net to win games and hopefully Andre and Martin can support that."