BORO boss Graham Westley said he was pleased with the way in which his side bounced back from defeat at Southend United on Good Friday by picking up all three points against Port Vale on Bank Holiday Monday.

The win sees Boro stay in the play-off places, level on points with Gillingham directly below them and one point better off than Torquay United, who sit just outside the play-off places, and Westley said he was delighted to see his side post ‘a big three points’ after Lawrie Wilson gave Boro victory with the help of a defender on the goal line.

“Of course Lawrie is claiming it, but I don’t know if the boys are giving it to him as I’ve been told that a defender ran it in, but it’s not important. The ball is in the back of the net, and we won 1-0,” Westley said.

“It was a big three points and it was a great reaction to the defeat on Friday.

“We got Lawrie down the right hand side at the back of (Lee) Collins, which was our game plan, on numerous occasions in that first half.

“They’ve had a good defensive record all season, and up until recently had the best defensive record in the league but we’ve managed to take that off them, but they’re never an easy side to break down and score goals against.

“They had 10 or 12 minutes before half time after we really had dominated proceedings. We played on the front foot, created all sorts of problems, the only thing we didn’t do was score and that gave them the enthusiasm to keep fighting which meant there was everything to play for going into the second half.”

Boro went close to scoring when Byron Harrison missed a header from five yards before Wilson’s late winner, and Westley was pleased with the way his side responded to that earlier missed opportunity.

“It was scripted,” Westley said. “We talked at half time about Lawrie down the right, about the area at the far post where (Adam) Yates, with his lack of height, would give Byron opportunities and within 60 seconds there it was, all happening, and a bit like Mousinho’s (saved) penalty (at Southend) you expect to see it nestle in the net but suddenly, for some reason, it went wide.

“We missed the pen, and our reaction wasn’t great and within three minutes we’d conceded at the other end. This time around the reaction was a lot better and we managed to go on and win the game.”