JOHN McCombe’s aerial power has been hailed by York City manager Nigel Worthington.

The 28-year-old centre-back signed on a two-and-a-half year deal from Mansfield in the January transfer window, has started the Minstermen’s last three matches and won back-to-back Press man-of-the-match awards for his towering displays alongside Keith Lowe.

Ahead of this weekend’s trip to Plymouth Argyle, City have only conceded once in three hours of football despite contending with gale-force conditions during their last two contests and Worthington has been buoyed by the start to his Bootham Crescent career made by McCombe, who has 274 appearances to his name at Football League level following previous spells with Hereford, Port Vale and Mansfield.

The City boss said: “He didn’t do anything wrong against Cheltenham on Saturday and, from memory, he didn’t at Fleetwood either. He heads the ball like a proper centre-half and gets distance on it.

“They were a tall side on Saturday but, on the whole, we dealt with that and he is another who gives us experience because he’s been there, seen it and done it.

“He’s also a nice age, so it’s good to have him in the group.”

Worthington was equally pleased with the quality of Bootham Crescent’s playing surface at the weekend.

Despite a clutch of League One and Two games falling foul of the weather again and heavy downpours in North Yorkshire on the eve of the game, the match against the Robins was never in danger of being postponed.

The Minstermen chief said: “I am delighted with our pitch because we have had lots of wet weather so, credit where credit’s due, the two groundsmen (Wayne Simpson and Kevin Russell) are doing a good job and, hopefully, that can continue.”