The gaffer looks back on the draw with Wolves, and ahead to Shrewsbury on Saturday.
Tuesday night saw Wolves visit The Lamex and a gutsy performance from Boro resulted in a goal less draw against the league leaders. After a tight first half where both defences were thoroughly on top, the second half opened up and both keepers made some superb saves to keep the score 0-0.
Graham Westley looked back on the performance and the team’s recent record with satisfaction.
“You look back over 10 games and you think - we’re playing League 1 football now - we’re matching sides, we’re beating sides and we’re in much improved form.
“The fact that Heslop’s gone down with cramp, that one or two are in there with strains that perhaps we haven’t picked up throughout the season says everything about the appetite, desire and work ethic that they showed in the game.
“That’s what you’ve got to if you want to win football matches at any level.
“There are some great moments of quality coming through too. We had some wonderful passages of play, particularly when Freeman is involved; his darting and movement is terrific and he’s improving all the time. Jimmy Smith was very unfortunate not to score on 3 or 4 occasions where he got clear cut opportunity for himself. He’s probably the best finisher at the club and on a different day the ball ends up in the net two or three times and it’s convincing.”
Although the team put in a terrific performance to keep Wolves at bay, there’s six games left in the season and the gaffer knows that the team are going to have to show the same appetite in far more testing conditions.
“It shows what we’re capable of but the important thing is that we’re prepared to stand up and be counted in different situations.
“In many respects it was an easy night to be up for a game - the conditions were good, there wasn’t a wind blowing from one end to another, the ball wasn’t bouncing all over the place you could get it down and play. Different from many of the conditions we’ve seen recently, we’re going to have to win games where it’s scrappier, windier and the circumstances are all together different.“
From playing top of the table to bottom of the table, Boro travel to Shrewsbury this Saturday for a bottom of the table clash with much at stake. The winner will almost certainly elevate themselves out of the bottom four and Graham Westley warned it will be a difficult game.
“I’ve watched them several times recently, and they’ve got a bit about them - just like we’ve got a bit about us. If you think that they’re going to turn up and give the points away you’ve got another thing coming. It will be a really difficult encounter, on their patch, with their fan base and to win there and come away with a clean sheet is going to take a lot of effort from the lads. We’re going to have to prepare really well between now and the weekend.”
To watch the full interview, along with one with Jimmy Smith sign into Boro Player.
Tickets for this weekend's game against Shrewsbury are now on sale at Boro Tickets, as are the three remaining home games for the season. With only six games to go, the boys need your support to push us over the line so buy your tickets in advance for what will be an exciting final few weeks.