“We were four moments from six points” says Westley following season opening losses

Boro suffered an opening day home defeat to Oldham Athletic and backed it up with an unfortunate 1-0 loss at Swindon Town last Saturday.

However, an unlikely Capital One Cup victory over Championship outfit Ipswich Town has left Westley bemused by his side’s fluctuating performances but knows that fine margins have left Boro in their current plight.

“We are always positive and we know that effectively we were four moments from six points,” said Westley.

“If Greg Tansey puts the ball in an open goal. If Dani Lopez puts the ball in an open goal we beat Swindon.

“If we do not give an unnecessary second penalty away and we do not concede a counter-attack goal from our corner against Oldham then that is also three points.

“As we know, the gap between winning and losing is always ever a very fine one in football and you have got to have a real sense of realism in those performances.

“I can quite easily see how we could have turned those two defeats into wins so that is what is important.”

Westley has experienced similar starts to league campaigns before, including when guiding Stevenage to Conference glory back in 2010 in his second stint at the club so will not be weighed down by any negativity at this early stage.

“We only managed three points from our first three games in that season but we did not get too down,” added Westley.

“This week is business as usual and we are focussed on our four-point plans we have had for every game.

“We had a four-point plan coming out of the first game, a four-point plan coming out of the second and again for this week’s match [against Leyton Orient] and we are just trying to make sure we are improving on the first four, second four and then this game’s priorities.

“I think once we get it right you will see this team getting better and better because they are good lads and they want to learn and they want to improve.”