Micky Adams' side have taken 17 points from their last eight matches

Port Vale manager Micky Adams has said he does not mind upsetting key players by leaving them out of the team.

Vale won 2-1 at Accrington on Tuesday without 20-goal top scorer Marc Richards and captain Tommy Fraser.

"It's not about individuals at this stage of the season," Adams told BBC Radio Stoke. "It's about picking teams to go out and win games of football.

"If I have to upset people by leaving them out, they're going to have to accept it because it's a squad game."

Goals from Craig Davies and Kris Taylor at the Crown Ground moved Vale to within two points of the play-off places in League Two.

Adams continued: "We've got a good squad here, everybody's mucked in and it's been a fantastic effort to get where we are.

"There's four games left and it's up to them how badly they want to achieve what we set out for at the beginning of the season."

Richards came on as a substitute for the final six minutes against Accrington, and the Vale boss has hinted that he may return for the trip at fellow promotion contenders Bury on Saturday.

"He's had a sickness bug which had laid him low and I didn't see the point of exhausting him in a game like this," said Adams. "I'm looking at Saturday for him."

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