MARK Marshall says there will be no old pals act when he reacquaints himself with Port Vale tomorrow.

The City winger played 49 games for Vale last season, the most in the squad, but turned down the chance of a new contract in the summer.

With the Bantams still chasing their first win of the season, he stressed that any thoughts of Friends Reunited will be pushed to one side.

“I enjoyed my time there and respect everyone at that club,” he said. "But tomorrow my focus is on Bradford City.

“I’ll shake everyone’s hand afterwards and say hello to my old mates. But ultimately I think we need the points more than them.

“For what we want to achieve, it’s crucial we do that to get the first win under our belt.”

Marshall was one of several big-name departures from Vale Park. Top scorer Tom Pope signed a lucrative deal at Bury and Ben Williamson came off the bench in Gillingham’s win at Valley Parade ten days ago.

But Rob Page’s side come into the game unbeaten and having given West Brom a real scare in midweek in the Capital One Cup.

Marshall added: “A lot of the main boys have moved on but they’ve started well. They’ve hardly conceded any goals.

“They will be a solid outfit and knowing the manager, he will have them organised. It will be a tactical battle.

“He’s a manager that likes to pass the ball as well as mix it up. I know that coming here they’ll be up for the fight.

“We’ve got to make sure we are ready for that.

“They played 120 minutes on Tuesday night so hopefully that takes a toll on them.

“But I can’t say too much about Port Vale because that’s the past.

“My future is Bradford City and we’re all working to achieve one goal. You have to start somewhere and hopefully we can build on last week.”

Marshall played his first full league game in the goalless draw at Barnsley and showed promise at both ends of the pitch with his willingness to track back.

He saw it as an important response from the team after the dismal display in the Gillingham defeat.

“The gaffer told us we had to get our act together and if you look at the overall picture of the Barnsley game, we had the better chances.

“They couldn’t really break us down. They were playing in front of us most of the time and the team put in a solid performance.

“I wouldn’t say it hasn’t quite clicked for us yet. For some reason the results haven’t gone how we’d wanted but if you look at spells in games, you can see there is quality.

“As the season goes on and you play more, the more fitness you get and the concentration is better.

“It’s only four games in but everything takes time. We can only build on the positive patches we’ve shown.

“Barnsley are a good team who will be up there. You saw that in midweek and the way they played against Everton.

“We contained their passing and movement and I can’t remember them having many shots on our goal. We had the best chances.

“Now we have the chance to get our first win at home. It’s great to be supported by this many fans.

“They really do get behind the team and want us to do well and hopefully we can get the three points we need.”