CENTRE-BACK John McCombe believes York City’s off-pitch dedication is beginning to reap rewards.

McCombe, Josh Carson and Marvin McCoy have all impressed during the side’s recent upsurge in from after experiencing spells out of the team.

Ex-Mansfield and Port Vale defender McCombe was given his chance during Saturday’s spirited 0-0 home draw with Plymouth following Stephane Zubar’s 20th-minute red card.

Zubar, whose loan spell from Bournemouth is currently up for renewal, is now suspended for four matches, after his second dismissal of the campaign, meaning Mc Combe is expected to feature for City throughout January at least.

Prior to the weekend, the Pontefract-born 29-year-old had only played 17 minutes of City’s previous eight matches as a substitute at Plymouth in November when Keith Lowe was suffering from illness, but he feels ready for duty having worked rigorously alongside fellow squad members during his time on the sidelines.

While certain Carlisle players landed themselves in hot water over the Christmas period after drinking less than 48 hours before meeting City and John Sheridan branded his Plymouth team’s efforts “pathetic” over the weekend, McCombe pointed out that standards of commitment, discipline and fitness remain high at Bootham Crescent.

McCombe said: “It’s been pretty hard sitting on the bench to be honest.

“You never know when you will get your chance. It could be during that game or it could be in ten weeks’ time.

“You have to bide your time. I didn’t see what happened with Zubes on Saturday.

“I just saw the red card come out and thought ‘right, I’m going to have to go on now’. While I’ve not been playing, I’ve just been trying to keep my fitness up and have worked hard on my own game, along with a lot of players here.

York Press:

OFF YOU GO: Stephane Zubar cuts a crestfallen figure after his sending-off

“Over Christmas, when there were lots of games, there wasn’t too much training, so it was quite hard if you were out of the side to maintain your fitness levels. But the lads not in the team have been doing extra training and that’s starting to show because whoever has come in has done pretty well and looked fit.

“In fact, I thought we looked the fittest team on Saturday even with ten men.”

McCombe thanked City’s fans, meanwhile, for their unwavering support during a run of 13 home matches without a win before Boxing Day’s 1-0 triumph against Accrington.

The Bootham Crescent faithful were hailed as “outstanding” by manager Russ Wilcox for their vocal backing following Zubar’s dismissal and McCombe added: “You could feel the positivity from the bench and the crowd on Saturday.

“The crowd got behind us all game, which was really good and they have stuck by us really well all season considering we didn’t win a home game this season until Boxing Day. A couple of us have been talking about how, on a run like that, you would normally feel nervous playing at home, but that’s not been the case and the fans have only been unhappy during a couple of games.

“We gave them a lift on Boxing Day and it was another good performance against Plymouth so, hopefully, we can carry that momentum into the next home games.”

McCombe is also looking for continuity, personally, having lost his place in the side on three occasions this term after being a mainstay in the team that clinched a play-off spot last season on the back of a 17-match unbeaten run.

“Overall, I’ve been quite pleased with how I have played this season even if I’ve probably not quite reached the level I can perform at,” he reasoned. “Being in and out of the team a couple of times hasn’t been helpful but, hopefully, I can get back in now.

“I was pleased with my performance on Saturday considering I haven’t really played for four or five weeks. I’ve got to keep that going now so, if I am playing this weekend, I can keep my shirt.”

Despite earning a point after playing with ten men for more than three-quarters of Saturday’s match, McCombe admitted he had mixed feelings about the final outcome, explaining: “The sending off rocked us a bit but we stuck at things and kept the score at 0-0 going into the break.

“For the second half, we wanted to keep things nice and tight to keep a clean sheet and then see what we could do on the counter-attack and I thought we had the best chances to win the game with three or four good opportunities.

Overall, it was a great performance but, while we were pleased to get a point, we were a little bit gutted not to get three.

“It never felt like we were going to lose the game and they only had the odd half-chance.”

The Minstermen have now kept three consecutive clean sheets having managed to keep the opposition at bay in only one of their previous dozen outings.

York Press:

TOUGH TACKLE: Plymouth's Reuben Reid goes flying as McCombe wins the ball

McCombe, who played every minute as City ended last season with a sensational 14 shut-outs in their final 18 fixtures, reckons cutting out individual blunders has been the key to stemming the flow of goals conceded since Christmas Day.

“I think we’ve done all right defensively over the season,” he argued. “A lot of the goals we have conceded have been down to silly mistakes, but we haven’t made many during the last few weeks and have looked quite solid.

“It’s something we’ve worked on as a team and it is starting with the guys up front, which helps you to keep clean sheets. We have begun to show what kind of team we can be over the last few weeks.

“That’s come through hard work and we need to keep that going.”