LORENT Tolaj returned to haunt his former club as Plymouth Argyle ground out a priceless 1-0 victory over Port Vale in a tense bottom-of-the-table Sky Bet League One clash at Vale Park.

The Swiss striker, sold by Vale to Argyle for £1.2-million in August, delivered the decisive blow just 19 seconds into the second half, sweeping home Matty Sorinola’s low cross for his ninth goal of the season.

For Argyle head coach Tom Cleverley, the win ends a near two-month wait for three points and, more importantly, lifts a squad that has been badly drained of confidence during a bruising run of results.

“It’s more a sense of relief for me,” Cleverley admitted. “There’s not going to be any celebrating. It’s back to work on Tuesday. It’s the confidence this gives the players — they’ve been a group low on confidence and that has affected our performances. This should take the shackles off a little bit.”

Argyle, who had earned just four league wins from their previous 15 games, had to work desperately hard to preserve their lead as Vale threw bodies forward in search of an equaliser. But a disciplined defensive display delivered only their third away league victory of the campaign – and a first clean sheet in over a month.

Cleverley added: “It was hugely important we didn’t lose the game first of all. To get the win, and in the fashion we did with a clean sheet, was extra sweet. We might have been guilty of thinking we’d cracked it after Burton. The lads know that can’t happen again.”

There was little attacking fluency on show, but Cleverley was unmoved. “Give me a 1-0 every day of the week,” he said. “Sky were here today but I honestly couldn’t care less. The players delivered exactly the game I expected.”