Defender taking one game at a time

John McCombe came straight back into the side after a length lay off and was more than pleased with his comeback game after Vale kept another clean sheet.

The Vale central defender said: “It was great to be back out there playing, it wasn’t the prettiest game but I have been out for seven weeks, came in and I thought I did alright.

“It took a bit of time for me to get going in the game. I have been out for seven weeks but it wasn’t until I have been out for four weeks until I started to walk again.

“The recovery from then has been quite quick and I have only trained for about five or six days so to go back in was brilliant and hopefully I can stay in the team now and keep going until the end of the season.

“Lee Hughes and Ben Williamson were ill, Liam Chilvers was injured, but we have got strength in depth and we have got a good squad here.

“Calvin Andrew came in and got the goal and he put in a good performance so it was good all round.

“I thought they did well, but obviously Torquay haven’t scored many goals recently and I thought that was there undoing again.

“I thought we fought well and it was one of those games where you are not going to play pretty football on that pitch and pass teams to death.

“They put a lot of balls into the box and we were just glad to get on the end of them and to keep a clean sheet is brilliant.”

The win at Plainmoor keeps up the pressure on current leaders Gillingham, but as far as McCombe is concerned, he won’t be looking any further than Tuesday night’s home game against Exeter City.

He said: “We have thirteen games to go now and I now it is a cliché, but we have to keep going and take on game at a time. We were glad to get the three points and take it into Tuesday night.

“We play Exeter City on Tuesday and it will be another hard game. They are a good footballing team and despite their defeat on Saturday they have picked up recently and we know it will be a tough game.

“We will need all of the squad between now and the end of the season and bringing in four or five new faces in January was good for the club and we know that whatever eleven goes out there we are more than capable of getting a result. “