Boro boss Graham Westley could not hide his delight at seeing his side get back in the play-off hunt with a 2-1 win against Cambridge United last night. Lee Boylan was Boro s hero as his first half winner put the club firmly back into the promotion pictu

Boro boss Graham Westley could not hide his delight at seeing his side get back in the play-off hunt with a 2-1 win against Cambridge United last night.

Lee Boylan was Boro's hero as his first half winner put the club firmly back into the promotion picture and the Stevenage boss hailed the performance of his patched up side.

"I loved the performance and I obviously love the result," Westley told The Comet.

"The determination and quality they showed was there for all to see. It was a really strong performance from a very determined side.

"Our boys as a squad are performing and credit must go to them for that because some of them have not been getting a lot of football. They have kept themselves in shape and doing a great job for us."

The one black mark on the evening was the sending off of Mark Roberts when the former Northwich Victoria man was shown a second yellow card for kicking the ball away in the second half.

Roberts will now serve a one-match suspension stretching Boro's squad resources even further and Westley was at a loss to explain the referee's decision to send the defender for an early bath.

"He doesn't even know what he's gone for - he was very confused," added the Boro boss. "He has not heard the whistle and he has carried on in clearing the ball which I would want him to do.

"You can never be certain that quickly if a whistle has been blown or not.

"I'm devastated for him as he doesn't deserve to be sent off. He got a yellow in the first half when he played the ball so he's gone for two yellow cards and when you add them together you think 'why on earth is that player in the dressing room?'

"There's no sense to it at all in my mind."

Westley was pleased with the response of his players, however, with Cambridge barely creating a chance of any note in the last half hour as fears Boro would capitulate with 10 men, as they had against Kidderminster at the weekend, proved unfounded.

"We knew what we had to do. They set themselves up in a certain way and we were able to play against that.

"Our front three did a smashing job against their back four and if your front three holds their four at the back then it's back to even numbers.

"We know how we like to play if we ever get reduced to 10 men. Fortunately we haven't had to cope with that too often but it's becoming a bit of a habit at the moment!"

Westley also paid tribute to the Boro faithful, who responded to the noise coming from the 1,650 travelling Cambridge fans.

"I think these are the occasions when you need your fans," he added. "The stadium was alive. Cambridge made sure of that at one end but our supporters were fantastic.

"Everybody played their part and the support we received was really enjoyable.