Louis Dodds wants to give manager food for thought ahead of Lincoln
Max McLELL
@McLellanMax
Port Vale loanee midfielder Louis Dodds was pleased to get 90 minutes under his belt last night against Burton Albion in the Checkatrade Trophy as he looks to tie down a spot in the starting XI on Saturday.
Minutes have been hard to come by for Dodds since his return back in the summer due to minor injuries and other players impressive form, but that has not affected his attitude and desire to make the starting XI.
Dodds completed his first 90 minutes last night on his 7th appearance for the club this season, and is hoping that what he showed last night, can give the manager a selection headache ahead the Valiants' Sky Bet League 2 fixture against Lincoln City on Saturday.
"We want the manager to have a little question mark in his head saying should I play him, but if we play tonight and didn't do well it makes his decision easy at the weekend.
"We want to make his decision as hard as possible and hopefully we all get some minutes... I've being doing a lot on the training ground but I've not been getting the minutes on the pitch so hopefully it's posed a thought for the manager in that he might start me or get some minutes off the bench.
"It was nice to blow the cobwebs out and hopefully something I can build on."
Along with the likes of Theo Vassell, Idris Kanu and Danny Pugh who Doddsy was pleased to see get minutes under their belts, one player that Louis heaped praise on was Ricky Miller.
The striker has struggled to find the goals he knows he can produce in recent weeks, having not scored since the opening day on his debut against Cambridge United.
Miller came off the bench last night and made an instant impact, shrugging off the battling Burton defenders and slotted the ball past the goalkeeper to give Vale an opening Checkatrade win, and Doddsy who provided the assist with a perfectly weighted lofted through ball, was pleased to see him back on the score sheet.
"I'm delighted for Ricky. He's taken a lot of flack from the fans and himself really, he beats himself up when he doesn't score and hopefully that relaxes him a little bit more in front of goal. Like you said it was a nice through ball and he's done well to finish so well played Ricky.
"He's not one of those where in training or in a game where he's not going to have a shot, he's still going to do that he just needed one to go in off his backside or something.
"Like I said tonight it was a great finish so hopefully that snowballs into three, four, five goals."
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