Darrell Clarke said there were many positives to take from the midweek win at home to Newport County and will be hoping his side can build on that performance, as we approach the final 10 games of the Sky Bet League Two season.
Strikes from captain Tom Conlon and top goalscorer Devante Rodney saw out a 2-1 victory on Tuesday night, moving the Valiants eight points clear of the relegation zone with 10 games remaining.
Ahead of the Colchester clash, when speaking on the confidence gained from the three points acquired against Newport, Clarke said:
“It is natural isn’t it for players to gain that bit of confidence from the win.
“A spirited performance that showed a bit of everything, showed us a bit of quality that we had in the first 30 minutes and first half of the game, then showed us being able to react from them equalising and the spirit that we are going to need in abundance over these last 10 games.
“So, there was a lot of positives from that, and you are hoping the players take confidence.”
Despite the impressive win last time out, the Gaffer was quick to put point out that the result and first Vale win was quickly an afterthought, with his primary focus on the next challenge, Colchester United:
“To be honest I put them to bed pretty quickly, the win(s). I did enjoy Tuesday night but then Wednesday I am straight back to work, straight in the building working on Colchester.
“There is no let up for a football manager and that is exactly the way it should be, so we enjoyed Tuesday night. The players enjoyed Tuesday night, but it is only a very small steppingstone of where we eventually want to be heading.”
A second successive victory would move Vale three points clear of the U’s and going into tomorrow’s game, Clarke stated this his side’s main priority is their own performance.
“At the end of the day, our concentration is on our performance. I think certainly the last three performances, I thought Oldham warranted a victory, but we did not get it because we did not have enough quality in the final third to see out that game.
“The Bolton game deserved a point for me on performance and then on Tuesday, we have got the win and the performance, so for me let’s focus on performance. I work with my players as in just focusing on that and then the results can take care of themselves.
“So on to the next one, Colchester away. It is obviously a big game, they are down there with us, they will be looking to win the game and we will be looking to win the game.”