A hat-trick from Marc Richards propelled his goal tally to 19 this season, in a class performance all over the pitch as Port Vale destroyed Chesterfield 5-0.
The three goals marked Richards' second hat-trick of his senior career, with the striker previously netting four first-half goals for Northampton against Macclesfield six years ago.
"It's my first for Vale and I am delighted. I am obviously delighted for the lads too because Chesterfield are no pushovers, but we destroyed them..
"I think people were looking at us as being a half-decent team anyway. If you read John Sheridan's notes he said we are a good team. Rightly so - we have been working hard. We have had 'win-lose' for the past eight games but we have been trying to go out there and win games more than anything else. We are a decent team at the moment.
"You wouldn't expect to get five against a team lower than us in the league, so to get five against one in third place is fantastic. We are delighted as a team. We have worked extremely hard - that was the basis of our game against Chesterfield. We have worked hard to close them down and we did that right from the start.
"Rob Taylor set us off in the right way with a fantastic individual goal and that's the sort of thing he is doing at the moment."
Richards has nothing but praise for the service he has been receiving from all over the park.
"Decent balls into the box - that's all a striker can ask for. As long as there are crosses coming in, strikers can't grumble. I have had three chances and have taken three. Fingers crossed - long may that run continue.
"I feel great. Going into games, I feel like I am going to score. We are creating chances. In previous games, I have had chances and haven't scored and I have been harsh on myself and criticised myself. I want to score in every game and that's what strikers thrive off.
"I set myself a target at the start of the season and I am close. That's all I am going to say."
Like manager Micky Adams, the forward refuses to be drawn on the prospect of Port Vale reaching the play-offs.
"We will talk about the next game but that's all we will do. We are not mentioning anything else.
"We have been on a decent run but we have had our blips this season. We have back to back wins now and if we can kick on from this, things are looking good. "Consistency has been the key all season. The gaffer came in at the start of the season and everyone knows what is expecting of them."
