Sheringham has ‘learnt from the best’ during his time at Manchester United

Chris Whelpdale says a few choice words at half-time from Teddy Sheringham helped his side to a point against York City.

Boro were trailing 1-0 at the break after a lacklustre first-half display on Saturday, but second-half goals from Whelpdale and Charlie Lee helped them to a 2-2 draw.

They almost won the game in the dying stages, too, thanks to the impact of substitutes Dipo Akinyemi, Brett Williams and Tom Conlon.

Akinyemi hit the side-netting and was also brought down for a penalty, which saw Williams denied by Scott Flinders in the York goal, while Conlon hit the woodwork with a free-kick from 25 yards.

And it was a few words from Sheringham, who will no doubt have seen Sir Alex Ferguson’s ‘hairdryer’ treatment in full flow during his Manchester United days, which helped, says Whelpdale.

“It’s the first time that I’ve experienced it, obviously I’ve not been in there for the first five games or so,” says Whelpdale, who is making his way back from a double hernia operation in the summer.

“We needed it. It was a slow start and it helped us in the second half.”

Whelpdale joked: “[Sheringham] seems a natural at it, he’s learnt from the best hasn’t he?

“We made it hard for ourselves in the first half. We got ourselves in a hole and we managed to dig ourselves out of it.

“We bounced back from the first half when we didn’t start very quickly and the tempo was slow. We bounced back and stuck together. “We’re unbeaten in four now and we’re starting to gel as a team.”

Speaking about the impact of Akinyemi and his fellow substitutes, Whelpdale added: “He had an impact and that’s what we needed.

“We’ve had a few injuries and we’ve got a lot of people coming back now. It’s increasing the depth of our squad. We’ve got players on the bench who can come on and cause trouble.”