Boro boss Graham Westley praised his players after tonight’s 2-0 win against Ipswich Town, a victory which has moved the club into the second round of the Capital One Cup for only the second time in its history.
“The job after the weekend was to make sure we were much better tonight and we went away trying to focus on the things that would make a big difference, “he said. “On Sunday and Monday the players were terrific in terms of their application and their attitude to their work. They took a lot on board, they want to learn, they want to succeed, they’re believing in the advice they’re being given and I thought tonight it was a much improved performance and a deserved win.”
Whilst Chris Day was named in goal, an injury in the warm-up meant a recall for Steve Arnold who went on to make a number of good saves during the game.
GW commented, “We’re lucky aren’t we to have two goalkeepers of such high calibre. So you lose one and another one gets his opportunity. It’s got to be like that in a winning squad, you can’t allow an injury to disrupt you. It can happen at any time of any game so you’ve got to be able to believe in your squad and Steve Arnold is a very able, very capable goalkeeper, an excellent deputy and he did very well.
Boro went ahead on 51 minutes through a Filipe Morais penalty although Greg Tansey was also vying to take the spot kick. “Yeah there was a big of a scrap going on there between him (Morais) and Tansey,” said the manager, “and I think Morais threatened to poke him with his nose if he didn’t get out of the way, but he’s managed to get the ball and put it in the net!”
Jordan Burrow then extended Boro’s lead with a close range finish and the gaffer was keen to praise the youngster’s willingness to learn and develop at the club.
“He’s going to be brilliant. I don’t want to heap pressure on him but he’s going to be an outstanding player. I was talking to an agent before the game and he said “what have you brought in, who have you got etc”. I pointed at Jordan and said “that boy is going to be some player”. His attitude, his application, his will to learn and develop and improve his attitude to want to win is phenomenal and I thought tonight he was exceptional against high quality defenders and he deserved the goal."