Boro Player spoke to manager Graham Westley following the goalless draw at Fratton Park and he reflected on a tight game that could have gone either way.
The result makes it a win and a draw in Westley’s first two games since returning a week ago, and more importantly two games without a goal conceded.
Pitch side after the game Westley said: “It’s a second clean sheet in a week and it was a hard earned clean sheet, we got nothing for nothing out there. I thought the players out one foot in front of the other, they showed good organisation and good resilience, but we had the more memorable chances in the game – none more so than the late one, but we could easily have scored two or three goals today from pretty clear cut chances and we didn’t give too many away. I think on the whole the draw was a fair result in the game but certainly for an away club I thought we came here and showed some sense of purpose, and a lot of good quality in the game.”
The game came seven days after the re-appointment of Westley as manager and he said that as each day goes by it is clear that his new players will have more of an understanding of what is being asked for, and he continued, “I’ve been really pleased with their response and their reaction, and particularly pleased with the attitude that they are showing; they’re really applying themselves and there are some very good players at the club.”
In the second half there was some controversy over an apparent head butt on Anthony Grant but Graham refused to draw too much attention to the referee after a game of high quality, saying that “the referee can only give what he sees”. He did however reveal that “from where I was standing it looked like a clear red and the fourth official felt the same.”
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