Midfielder pleased with Boro’s attacking display

JOHN Mousinho said he is looking to score more goals after hitting the back of the net for the first time in a Boro shirt against Rotherham on Saturday.

The midfielder capped a fine display with a 82nd minute strike to give his side a share of the points, and after the game told The Comet that he hopes to improve his strike rate.

“I think it would be a bonus for any midfielder to start scoring goals and it’s certainly something I’d be looking to do more often.

“I think my return from midfield needs to be more than one in 10.

“(It was a) good ball to the back post to David (Bridges), who had just come on and was making an impact.

“I think the keeper made a very good save from his shot but fortunately it came back to him and I just managed to scream loud enough for him to pull it back to me and he laid it on a plate for me.”

Mousinho was impressed by Boro’s attacking instincts against Rotherham. Graham Westley began the game with five, including Mousinho, strung across midfield, but each of them was given license to venture forward when appropriate to support lone striker Chris Holroyd.

“I think it you look at it from the outside and see Chris Holroyd playing up front on his own you might think it was negative but I think anyone playing here today saw we were on the front foot and Chris up front was unbelievable.

“He worked so hard and it enabled everyone behind him to push up and support him so we ended up being extremely positive and extremely attacking even more so had we been playing 4-4-2.

“We came in the dressing room at half time extremely disappointed to be one nil down.

“We were sloppy in the goal we conceded and we were sloppy in our finishing as well. We only had ourselves to blame, coming in at half time.

“We have come of the pitch disappointed with a 1-1 draw at Rotherham. You’ve got to take positives from it. It’s one of those things if we’d come away with a win no-one would have raised their eyebrows.”

Speaking about his midfielder partner Michael Bostwick, who was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet, Mousinho said: “I think Bozzie was fantastic today, especially coming from playing centre-half the last three games.

“Mark Roberts, the captain, came back in and Bozzie went into the midfield and dominated and I think it’s a credit to him that he can be so versatile and play so many different positions and he played so well and was really unlucky not to score.”

Boro boss Graham Westley praised Mousinho after the game, saying: “He’s been working hard, John. He’s a terrific midfield player.

“We’ve seen him all season getting on the ball in the middle of the park, being strong, increasingly thrusting in his runs forward I think he joined play really well this afternoon.”