Saturday brings a visit to dark satanic Burslem and a rather spooky road approach past the cemetery and resting place of 18th century witch Peggy Lee who terrorised the area and allegedly refused to stay put in her grave until she was buried facing South, a Saddler perhaps?

If that doesn’t give you the creeps then remember The Red Lion by the ground is allegedly where Robbie Williams’ grew up with a Saddlers induced football complex.

This bar tends to be very home orientated, and almost impenetrable after 1pm unless you have a password and know the secret handshake, (come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough??)

Generally, you do still have to watch yourself due to the “history” between the clubs, but also because it’s the policy of several pubs not to allow away fans in for big matches, and for Vale it doesn’t get much bigger than this.

The away end exits onto Hamil Rd. which is home to the rather compact and bijou “Vine”. A decent enough pub that does its best to welcome away fans despite being set fire to by Huddersfield Supporters following their relegation a few years back.

However, if you get there early there is a little known gem of a pub tucked away in Burslem town centre called the Bulls Head which is the official tap of the local Titanic Brewery. The bar is very welcoming with open fire and traditional feel and last time I was in they did stunning hot pork sarnies.

To reach this pub: with your back to the away end head right down Hamil Road and right again down Moorland Road past the Red Lion until you reach the market area, it’s on St John’s Square at the far end of the market – about a 10 minute walk from the ground.

Train travellers exiting the station four miles away at Stoke have two studenty chain bars directly opposite, namely the Firkin and the Roebuck (It’s a Scream chain).

They are actually quite pleasant when Stoke are away, and boast the usual immovable heavy wooden seats, passable but overpriced lager and enormous burgers to keep skinny little students from starving to death between visits home.

A taxi from here to Burslem is the order of the day as fares in Stoke tend to be reasonable, and the drivers are always good craic for a yarn about Stanley Matthews, whose main claim to fame of course, was that he opened Bescot Stadium – (there’s your ice breaker folks).