'My goal is to make it impossible for the boss not to play me'

DETERMINED Ruari Paton has a mission at Port Vale this season.

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The forward, on loan at Dundee United for the second half of last term, has returned and wants to make it impossible for manager Darren Moore to leave him out.

The 25-year-old has pinpointed this season as a big one in his career and intends to make it count.

The fighting talk will resonate with Vale fans who love a player who is prepared to give their all.

He plays with emotion and told a pre-match press conference: “That feeling you get before a game, all the emotion of it, that’s what it’s all about at the end of the day. That's what you can't replicate at the end of your career.

“I'm acutely aware of how finite a career is. I haven't had an injury in seven years. And when you are missing it I feel like it's a wasted time.

“Now I'm here to do the business. I'm not going to go and be desperate and say to the manager ‘please play me’. My mission this year is just to make it impossible for him not to play me. That's probably the best way of putting it.

“To do it on the pitch is how you can guarantee to play all the time. You might not do it every week but that is my mindset. Make it hard for the manager to leave me out.