Former Striker Nets 4 in one Game

Former Town striker Akpo Sodje has lauded Port Vale manager Martin Foyle for helping him get back on the goal trail in stunning style.

Sodje broke a barren run with four goals against Rotherham, taking his tally for the campaign to 12.

‘He understands that when you are not scoring you need to keep playing and wait for goals to come. I’m happy to be paying him back,’ Sodje told BBC Sport.

‘With other managers, if you don’t score after four games you’ll get dropped and your confidence has gone.’

Sodje’s confidence is now sky high after an 18-minute first-half hat-trick and a late fourth made him the first Vale player to score four in a match since 1893.

It also put an end to a run of eight games without finding the net and helped him meet Foyle’s target of scoring 10 league goals this season.

‘I tend not to worry about not scoring – it happens to everybody,’ added the 27-year-old, who joined Vale from Darlington in the summer, he was with Huddersfield prior to Darlington for the season 04/05 when he made nine appearances

‘And you need to stay relaxed. If I was anxious I’d rush chances on the pitch so it was a case of working hard for the team and waiting for the chances to come.

‘I’d been getting closer and closer and seen some efforts cleared off the line so I knew it was going to come.

‘And I’ve been putting the work in – I have to as the boss is a former striker!

‘When you go through a patch like that he always says you need to work harder.