Port Vale eased on through to the third round of the FA Cup last weekend with a 4-0 victory over travelling Hartlepool United.

The Valiants were no match for the Pools in a game that saw Vale earn their fourth clean sheet in seven games.

Nathan Smith spoke exclusively to Valiant PlayerHD yesterday about the defensive record: “As a back four, and Jak as well, we are over the moon with four clean sheets in seven games, and we will be looking to make it three in three this weekend.

He continued: “It’s definitely a positive. As a defender and it gives you a lot of confidence moving on.”

Coming off from a good performance at the weekend, Vale face a jam-packed December and will be looking to carry on their recent form over the Christmas period: “It is definitely going to be a big month, and we need to get the points on the board because it is very tight up top.

“If we win then we will be able to jump up a couple of places, but if we lose it puts us a bit out of it, even more so when we’re playing teams that are within our region of the league. It is very important to get three points on Saturday”, he added.

The 20-year old center back is confident about the run of games coming up and is looking for three home wins out of three: “We look at them as three winnable games. We have confidence at home, especially with the fans behind us. To come away from this month with three wins out of three at home would be a massive positive and give us a stepping stone this season.”

Next up for Vale is Northampton Town this Saturday, with old Vale boss Rob Page making his return to Vale Park.

Smith is confident going into the game, but is aware of the threat the Northampton carry: “It will be a tough, physical game. They have some quality players, but every week is a tough game, but as long we play as well as we can and we concentrate on our performance I’m sure we can come away with three points.”