How memory of Portsmouth legend Robert Prosinecki came to fore for ex-Cardiff City and Bristol City man on 500th league appearance

And the Pompey midfielder targetted boosting his substantial total with a sizeable number of appearances for his hometown club, after hitting the landmark in the 1-0 win at Port Vale.

Pack spoke of his satisfaction at breaking new ground at Vale Park, as the Blues went top of League One with their fourth win on the spin.

The 31-year-old delivered another man-of-the-match performance to continue his excellent form since his summer arrival from Cardiff City.

Pack produced the assist for the decisive goal from Dane Scarlett, as the Spurs man grabbed his maiden Pompey strike.

And one moment in front of the 1,685 travelling fans in the second half delighted the Pompey faithful, as he bamboozled winger David Worrall with a series of chops.

Worrall was left flummoxed as Pack continually dropped a shoulder on Worrall, in scenes reminiscent of Prosinecki in his Fratton pomp.

Pack said: ‘I got dizzy myself!

‘When you aren’t blessed with pace you have to manipulate the ball.

‘I may be a bit quicker than Prosinecki, but I’d take an ounce of his ability.

‘I thought I was going to mess it up, but when you aren’t blessed with pace you have to try to kid the opposition now and again.

‘It’s great to make my 500th appearance.

‘When it’s all done and you take stock it’ll be pleasing.

‘To have longevity in football and play that amount of games is something I could never have dreamed of.

‘It’s great but I still want to keep racking up those appearances in a Pompey shirt.’

Pack’s composure on the ball was once again a significant factor in his team’s success against Port Vale.

In what was often an frenetic game played at a pace but without a great deal of structure, his calming influence proved significant.

That was seen in the key moment, when the Buckland boy opened up the Valiants’ defence with a killer through ball for Scarlett to score.

Pack added: ‘That was my second assist.

‘At times the game was quite frantic and we were quite direct.

‘So it was just trying to give Dane a glance and put him through when I saw the gap.

‘We battled well and did the hard stuff away from home.

‘We would have liked to have more control of the game, but we also created some good chances and got in good areas.’