JOHN Rudge can be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief after narrowly missing out on the October Manager of the Month award. It turned out to be a poisoned chalice when Colin Todd won the award in September . . . and the last thing the Port Vale boss needs now is a run of results that would undermine the confidence his team has worked so hard to build.

Rudge - at odds with his directors at the start of the month before his Lazarus-like recovery - was pipped at the post by another 'miracle' man, Tranmere's John Aldridge.

In the end it came down to just one point and, but for last-gasp goals in Saturday's games at Vale Park and Prenton Park, the 'Bald Eagle' would have had his hands on the bubbly.

By common consent, Vale were unlucky to lose 3-2 to Sheffield United, a result that ended a run of four successive wins - against Norwich, Barnsley, Bristol City and Crewe - and a draw at Watford. Probably as unlucky as Wanderers were to lose 3-0 to Sunderland the following afternoon. Rudge, who was at the game, certainly thought there was an element of misfortune and went as far as to say: "Three-nil to Sunderland was an injustice!".

Now he's wary of the backlash factor. He has predicted all along that Wanderers and Sunderland will claim the top two places and he saw nothing on Sunday to change his mind.

"The quality of the match was a lot higher than anything I've seen this season," he said.

"But that's not surprising considering the quality of the teams."

As Colin Todd was at pains to point out, after hearing Peter Reid's post-match comments, praise like that is not what Wanderers are looking for at the moment.

They need points and they need them desperately.

A return of just two from 15 since they were shooting for top spot just a few short weeks ago, has turned tonight's fixture - a "should win" game when it was first scheduled for September 5 - into a "must-win" encounter. Three successive defeats has seen them plummet from third to 12th and it's only the respective goal tallies that separate the two teams going into what is now a mid-table tussle.

On status, the quality of their squads and their expectations, they should be poles apart but there are suddenly similarities to be drawn - most notably that they are currently having to adjust to the loss of star players. For, while Wanderers were selling Nathan Blake to Blackburn, Vale were completing the £2 million transfer of Gareth Ainsworth to Wimbledon - coincidentally one of the clubs who were in for Blake.

Yet it's at the back where changes, if any, are likely in the wake of the weekend's results.

Todd, who wasn't happy with the way his side defended and has doubts about the fitness of Mark Fish, could again make changes at the back while Arnar Gunnlaugsson and Bob Taylor - who is again likely to fill the Blake role - will be up against Vale's No 1 centre-half pairing Paul Beesley and Dave Barnett. They both missed Saturday's game through suspension but are expected to go straight back into the side.

Wanderers never thought they would be under such pressure going into their 15th League game, especially having looked so comfortable going into their tenth, but a win tonight and at bottom club QPR on Saturday would see the pendulum swing again.

There might be anxiety on the home front but their rivals still see Wanderers as a threat over 46 games.

As Reid said: "There's a long way to go. I mean, we had a particularly bad start to the season last year and ended up in the play-offs. And I certainly think, on the evidence of the way Bolton played, they will be there or thereabouts."

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