Rhys Browne has admitted that with Vale’s turn of form this season, the players must “get used to winning” as they continue to pick up results.
Browne played a key role in Tuesday’s Leasing.com win over Mansfield Town as the club continued a whirlwind number of days that have seen the club draw Manchester City in the FA Cup third round, have a visit from Robbie Williams and advance in the Leasing.com Trophy.
Tuesday’s win followed the team’s FA Cup victory away at Cheltenham Town, and Browne stressed how important the results were for the club as they had to respond to their 2-1 defeat at Scunthorpe United and bounce back to winning ways.
The back to back wins have fed into the winning mentality that manager John Askey wants to install into the team, and Browne echoed his thoughts, emphasising the importance of getting used to being part of a winning side, but also keep their feet on the ground.
Confidence being high amongst the whole club has also been vital to the team’s success according to Browne, who is enjoying the feelgood factor at Vale Park.
He said: “It’s [the result] perfect for us, especially with the week that we’ve had and the last few days, we had to come back and bounce back and get a win today.
“All the best teams, they get used to winning so if we want to get something from this season and we want to get promoted and we want to go to Wembley, we have to get used to winning which is not easy but we have to do it.
“We just take it one step at a time, we don’t look too far, we take it one game at a time.
“Everyone’s got their tails up, I think you can feel it everywhere, not just the dressing room, the whole club, everybody’s just buzzing to be around the place, we’ve got Walsall on Saturday in the league so it’s good to take what form we’ve had in the cups into the league.”
The Vale welcome Walsall to Vale Park on Saturday, and it will provide Browne with another chance to continue his impressive form of late after the winger got an assist at the weekend before following it up with his first Vale goal Tuesday night.
Browne was forced to miss a portion of the start of the season due to injury and expressed his frustration at missing out on playing, but is glad to be back on the field and hopes to repay the gaffer’s trust.
The excitement for the upcoming visit to the Etihad has further boosted squad morale, however, Browne expressed how the players need to maintain their focus and get another win in the league this Saturday.
He said: “It [scoring] feels great, I’ve been working hard to get back to full fitness from my injury but it feels great, I think you can see by my expression after the goal I’ve been working really hard to get here.
“That’s what the gaffer said to me, because we’ve been playing so well, I had to wait for my opportunity so when my opportunity come it was up to me to me whether I take it or not.
“Everyone didn’t really know how to respond [to the Man City draw]… that’s [Walsall] all we need to focus on right now, that’s [City away] not until next year, so we need to take it one step at a time and focus on Saturday.”