Scott Laird has praised the performance of Steve Morison after the Boro captain scored two goals to put his side in the driving seat ahead of Monday s play-off second leg with Cambridge United. Morison has suffered a goal drought of late but returned to

Scott Laird has praised the performance of Steve Morison after the Boro captain scored two goals to put his side in the driving seat ahead of Monday's play-off second leg with Cambridge United.

Morison has suffered a goal drought of late but returned to form with two finishes of the highest quality in the clash at the Lamex Stadium and Laird insists it was just a matter of time before the hitman returned to goalscoring form.

"He has gone through a little goal drought but we knew four or five games ago that he was going to start scoring and what a way to come back and get two goals for your team. That was a real captain's performance from him," Laird told The Comet.

Darren Murphy's red card before half time always looked like having an impact on the game but not many people would have predicted that it would fire Boro into life. Former Plymouth Argyle trainee Laird believes that previous experience helped them manage the situation.

"That's the third time it's happened now in six games," he said. "The first time it happened at Kiddy (Kidderminster) I don't think we did ourselves justice but at Mansfield, and now Cambridge, I think we stepped up to another level. It was just brilliant to be involved in."

Manager Graham Westley has reminded his players that the tie is far from over and Laird says the players will have to take the same attitude and commitment into the last few games as they have done in the last half of the season.

"He (Westley) didn't want to take the gloss off of the performance but he knows and we know that we can't let our performances slip now. We've got to go into training on Saturday and Sunday with the same attitude as we have been in the last half of the season even in the training matches, so when Monday comes round we'll be on it again."

The 20-year-old is really enjoying himself at The Lamex Stadium and says that having to report for training twice over the weekend is a small price to pay for the chance to play in another Wembley final.

"We don't mind going in on Saturday and Sunday, it's just brilliant. This is what being involved in football is all about and it's just great to be involved in another game like that."

Laird paid tribute to the Boro fans for their support during the first leg and says he would like more of the same at the Trade Recruitment Stadium on Monday.

"Cambridge brought a fair few but we silenced them like we did a few weeks ago and hopefully we can take our 1,500 and sell that out and get that noise going again because it's brilliant, it really does lift you.