'Valiants can keep shirts after their cup triumph'

PHIL Sproson believes the Port Vale team that played against Birmingham City have done enough to retain their shirts for the trip to Reading tomorrow.

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The Valiants produced a stunning display to dump The Blues out of the Carabao Cup at the second-round stage to set up a mouthwatering home tie against Arsenal.

And Vale legend Sproson, whose family are synonymous with the club he graced in more than 500 games, insisted that it was not a second string sideand they should now keep their places.

"You can’t take anything away from Port Vale, they were absolutely magnificent to a man," he said on BBC Radio Stoke after the victory.

"They stuck to the task from the moment they kicked off, and totally deserved the win.

Birmingham had massive possession at times, certainly Vale repelled it and worked incredibly hard and played some nice football and could have won by more than one goal.