Strength of Port Vale squad pleases Louis Dodds

Dodds netted his first goal since October in the win over Macclesfield

Louis Dodds believes the strength in depth within the Port Vale squad is "a nice problem" for manager Jim Gannon.

"If you look at our bench, most of those lads would start if they were at another League Two team," midfielder Dodds told BBC Radio Stoke.

"It's nice when the manager tries to freshen things up and there's an abundance of talent on the bench. It's a nice problem for him to have."

Dodds scored in the 2-1 victory over Macclesfield at Vale Park on Saturday.

Defender Lee Collins opened the scoring with a close-range header in the first half and Dodds added a second late on after coming on as a substitute for Doug Loft.

It was the first time that Vale had won two consecutive matches under Gannon and strengthens their position in the play-off places in League Two.

Former Leicester trainee Dodds has struggled to force his way back into the starting line-up since picking up an injury soon after Gannon's arrival at Vale Park in January.

But after scoring twice for the reserves in midweek and then finding the net again for the first-team at the weekend, Dodds hopes to have given Gannon a selection headache ahead of the trip to fellow promotion contenders Shrewsbury on Tuesday.

"It's been a frustrating time at the minute but I'm delighted to show the manager what I can do and put one in," said Dodds.

"Sometimes you need to show people what you can do, I've scored three goals in the past week. I'm delighted with that and hopefully it continues."

Gannon told BBC Radio Stoke after the victory over Macclesfield: "He [Dodds] has been in superb form in training but it's been difficult to try and get him in the team.

"Tom Pope and Marc Richards have formed a good partnership up front, Lewis Haldane has looked a threat on the right and Doug Loft has been doing a workmanlike job to give us an extra man in midfield.

"'Doddsy came on and showed his capabilities and that's the value of having a good squad.

"We've got Gary Roberts back in the fold now [after serving a three-match suspension] and we're looking to add players as well, so it all bodes well for a very good month ahead."