GRAHAM WESTLEY was a pleased man after watching his players start with a bang against Morecambe on Saturday.

The Boro boss spoke last week about wanting to see his team attack opposing sides from the off and they certainly didn’t disappoint with two goals in the first nine minutes proving enough to earn the three points.

“It was terrific to see the players respond to the task of getting out of the traps and getting ahead as early as we possibly can do,” said Westley after the match.

“We’ve had a strong defensive record this season but we haven’t put sides to the sword in the way we’d have liked to. The confidence is growing and our forward momentum is getting much stronger and if we can keep that solidity and start games sooner than we have been then we’ll give ourselves a great chance of continuing to progress.”

Scott Laird was deployed on the left-wing for the match while Darius Charles started at left-back and it didn’t take long for Westley’s tactics to pay dividends with Laird grabbing the opener as well as providing the assist for the second.

“Something we’ve talked a lot about before the game was getting people into the box and it was brilliant work from Mousinho down the left hand side and his athleticism is a constant menace to opposition midfielders as he breaks into those wide areas.

“It was a terrific ball from the left hand side and Scotty (Laird) attacked the ball like he does and you can see he really enjoys it when he gets into the final third.”

Despite admitting this was far from Boro’s most impressive attacking display of the season, Westley was once again delighted with his side’s work-rate and organisation while also heaping praise on his mystery star striker.

“We were having a laugh in the dressing room that ‘own goals’ are probably our top goalscorer now Holroyd has left us and he (Charlie Griffin) didn’t utter anything to suggest that he’d got it so I suspect that own goal has scored again,” joked Westley.

“What will be noted from the match was our defensive organisation and our work-rate as a team rather than our attacking play. When you pick the strong side we did there’s probably a likelihood that’s going to be the predominant feature.

“Stacy (Long) went down yesterday with a little knock in training and we lost his craft and his guile and his ball-retention but I thought the lads worked very hard and it was a positive performance on the whole.

“Despite the fact our attacking play wasn’t as good as it has been in recent weeks, you have to win ugly sometimes but I can’t really remember too many moments that Morecambe had which is testament to the work rate and organisation of the lads.”