Darren Sarll believes that Tuesday night’s win at home to Cheltenham gave the changing room a “psychological injection’ as his side had to see out a fourth consecutive win the hard way.
After going 2-0 up and seemingly in cruise control, a red card for Charlie Lee meant Boro had to play the majority of the second half with ten men.
A 79th minute Cheltenham goal narrowed the lead which led to a bombardment of our box but the players held on for a crucial win.
“They were brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Going down to ten men was a real key test of our resolve and our togetherness. I thought we looked so strong, such a unit.
“Nothing pulls you together like going down to ten men, maybe having to hold on a little bit but digging through it, getting through it and coming out the other side. It is an unbelievable lift.
“The performance from Saturday, the Wycombe performance is not going to happen every week. Man United don’t play at the very, very top of their potential every week. It is these games; it is these very games we were losing early on.
“Sometimes we have got to come here, dig in, dig a trench, hold that line and say ‘I won’t move, I am not going to move’ and tonight we didn’t move.”
On a night where every member of the team gave their best, Sarll admitted that it was tough to single anyone out.
“I thought Luke Wilkinson put in a chest thumping performance at the heart of central defence and I don’t want to underestimate or undervalue the other back four in that because they were terrific.
“Jamie hasn’t had a save all night again. We left it a little bit close for comfort for my liking but even when we went down to ten men, Ben Kennedy was a menace, an absolute menace and back to his very best. Ben is at his very best when he knows he has got to carry the team on his shoulders and he certainly did that at times tonight.
“I know you have pulled out Jobi who I thought was a spring chicken at his age but my lord did he cover some ground. I could say that Josh McQuoid got stronger as the game went on. Matt Godden was Matt Godden but we wanted to preserve him because he felt a bit of tightness in his hamstring.
“For the fourth game in a row I can’t say that any one player did not give absolutely give their heart and soul for the football club.”
The win moves us up into ninth place, two points away from the play offs but Sarll’s focus is solely on the next game.
“The only challenge we have got now is Exeter and we have got to make sure we do that, let’s not be silly.
“What we have got to try and do now is go to Exeter - a team unbelievably in form with a terrific manager - we have got to make sure we impose ourselves at that ground.
“We know, given our quality that if we can patch the bodies up physically we will have a fantastic chance of taking something at Exeter.”
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