Ashton and Hartley ‘were outstanding’ against Bradford City says Stevenage manager

Graham Westley has praised his central defensive partnership of Jon Ashton and Peter Hartley after the way they kept Bradford City hotshot Nahki Wells quiet in Saturday’s League 1 encounter.

The Bantams striker went into the match having scored in each of his last eight competitive matches, but at the weekend was reduced to just two chances of note as he and fellow striker James Hanson were kept on the margins of the game by Boro’s defence.

Westley said: “In fairness Ashton and Hartley were outstanding again.

“They are two top defenders at this level. As a pair there’s a great understanding, nice balance right and left sided and they’re really starting to marshal the side as a defensive organisation and give us good quality in terms of developing our play going forward as well.”

Speaking about his side’s development this season, after a performance which was probably the side’s best so far this campaign, Westley added: “We’re going forward. I think anyone who is watching the team can see that care is back.

“The sense of pride in winning is there, the desire to succeed for the football club is there and you’ve got to get that foundation in place before you worry about the detail.

“But a lot of the detail of our performance is starting to come now and there’s some much better things in and out of possession.

“We’ve come a long way forward I think in a short period of time, it’s up to us now to make sure that we realise it’s the rate of improvement that will dictate the success we have this season.”