Could Moore's men have pushed Gunners if star trio had been in the side?

T would be interesting to know just what Devante Cole, Ben Garrity and George Byers felt about being left out of arguably Port Vale's biggest game in 27 years.

- PORT Vale writer CLIVE YOULTON

Darren Moore opted not to play three of his best players against Arsenal and we'll never know whether the team could have mustered a shot on target at least, if Cole and Byers such a creative influence were in the team.

The reality is Vale could have probably played with 12 players and still lost but even so, many would have gone with their best team.

It's hard to imagine legendary manager John Rudge, who gave the current players an inspirational talk before the game, would have gone into the 1998 Arsenal FA Cup replay at Vale Park leaving out Ian Bogie, Gareth Ainsworth and Andy Porter.

Moore had indicated that the team selection wasn't hard because of the players' performances in recent matches. Which makes his decisions a little odd.