We need to start winning again, says Port Vale keeper

Tomlinson has started every league game this season

Port Vale goalkeeper Stuart Tomlinson insists that his team can handle the pressure of being top of League Two.

Vale boss Micky Adams questioned his side's mental strength after Saturday's failure to beat bottom club Hereford cut their lead to a single point.

"I wouldn't say that's the case," Tomlinson told BBC Radio Stoke.

"But, obviously, once we've hit the top we haven't been playing as well. We've just got to sort something out, get on it and get back to winning," he added.

"We've only played 11 games. It's no good doing well in seven of them and then throwing it all away."

Saturday's draw at Edgar Street, when Vale failed to take advantage of playing against Hereford's 10 men for almost an hour, came a week after losing their unbeaten away record at Oxford.

And, with the midweek Johnstone's Paint Trophy draw at Carlisle in between, Vale have not won now in three matches. But they have still won seven out of their 11 league games this term and, ahead of Saturday's home date with Gillingham, Tomlinson says there is no cause to panic.

"We've had a great start," he said. "But, like everyone says, it's a marathon not a sprint."