Stevenage defender Terence Vancooten believes he has found his best position in Boro’s back three and was full of praise for his defensive colleagues.

The Guyana international has played both as a full-back and central defender during his time at the Lamex, but has found a home on the right hand side of Dino Maamria's three-man defence.

And Vancooten believes he suits this role well, telling CometSport: "I prefer playing in the back three because I still have the licence to go forward and linking up with Luther James-Wildin on the right. I think that suits me perfectly.

"I can still get forward which is something I'm good at, but I also have pace and I back myself to beat any striker in this league to the ball."

The 21-year-old has been playing alongside the experienced duo of Scott Cuthbert and Ben Nugent, and he believes they have helped his performances.

"Scott and Ben have been massive," he said.

"Being alongside Scotty with his influence on the game and his leadership, you can just tell when he's in the team.

"He helps you throughout so much and he's been so good to me."

The performance of the back three was key in Boro's brilliant end-of-season form last term as they narrowly missed out on the League Two play-offs.

Vancooten believes they can finish inside the top three this season, saying: "If anything our team has improved on last season and it would be great to finish in that top two and get automatic promotion rather than having to worry about other teams and points."

As for his own targets this season, the defender is keen to win individual awards.

"I'd like to win player of the month," he said.

"It's harder for a defender to win that as what you do goes unseen a lot of the time.

"For a striker, if you score 10 goals in a month its so much more highlighted."