Crawley Town v Port Vale preview: Reds look to avoid fourth straight loss in visit of high-flying Valiants

Action from last season's clash between Crawley Town and Port Vale at The People's Pension Stadium in March. Picture by Warren Little/Getty Images

Crawley Town will be looking to avoid a fourth consecutive League Two defeat when Port Vale visit The People's Pension Stadium this Saturday.

While Crawley have hit a poor patch of form, their opponents are flying and find themselves in second in League Two.

Vale have recorded a very impressive six wins from their last eight league games, with just one defeat in this time.

They have former Crawley man Jamie Proctor to thank for a lot of what’s gone right for them this season. He has grabbed seven goals in 13 games this campaign. That’s half the amount he managed in 67 games for Crawley between January 2013 and June 2014.

Manager Darrell Clarke has got the Valiants playing very well, after making a lot of changes to the squad in the summer.

Clarke can take a lot of credit for turning things around at Port Vale, since he joined from Walsall in February.

However, only a couple of bad results could see Clarke’s side fall down the table. Vale are just three points away from dropping out of the play-off places despite sitting second.