JAMIE McCOMBE enjoyed every minute of his running battle with Bristol Rovers fans, who taunted him mercilessly as an ex-Bristol City player.
The big centre-back responded with an outstanding display alongside Peter Clarke and played a major role in Town’s win.
“I must have done something good for City if Rovers fans remember me that well,” said McCombe afterwards, with a broad smile on his face.
“This is always a tough place to come and I’m just glad we got off to a good start. We came under a bit of pressure late on, but the two goals they had disallowed were definitely correct decisions.
“The first was a foul on our goalkeeper and the second one was an offside that we appealed for straight away so I don’t think they had any complaints.
“The wind picked up in the second half and Rovers used it to their advantage. You have to credit them for battling right to the end, but we could have been out of sight by then.
“Goals change games and we had good chances to seal the result. Joey Gudjonsson has hit a post and we missed the rebound. Then we have failed to score from a penalty.
“If we had gone two or three up it would have changed the momentum of the game. But only one up away from home there is always a chance you might concede. At the end it’s a big three points for us. We expected a tough game with Rovers under a new manager. That can breathe new spirit into a team.
“Players who haven’t been involved under the previous boss see a new chance and raise their game. To be fair they looked a half-decent side in the second half. I’ve had two games back now after suffering from a bug my little girl picked up and then very kindly passed on to my wife first and then me.
“I’m fine now and looking forward to playing a full part in our remaining promotion challenge. We are unbeaten since the turn of the year and I see no reason why we can’t go up automatically.
“We have drawn a few too many and not picked up as many points as we have probably deserved. But we have some momentum and now we just need to keep it going.
“We are big club in this league and a lot of teams lift themselves to try and spoil things for us. When I first went to Bristol City it was very much the same there.
“That makes it difficult against the lower teams, but we seem able to handle that now and if we stay positive I’m sure we can go up.”
