A proud Paul Tisdale was delighted to see his glut of new signings make such a big impression straight off the bat - and poured cold water on the idea that the age of them is an issue.

The 3-1 win over Walsall, the first under the new boss, came courtesy of an own a goal and a Chris Lines header, with Jake Taylor's stoppage time strike settling any late nerves after the Saddlers had pulled one back with 20 minutes to go.

Four players made their debut at the Lamex, with seven of the 11 starters over the age of 30, but the Boro chief doesn't believe that should be how they are judged.

He said: "It is a word that has been used a lot this week - we’ve gone for experience.

"I’d put it a different way, I’ve gone for players that can deliver a performance that is needed.

"They can be 22 or 32, I really don’t care.

"We happen to have a group of players of a certain age at the moment but I want proper players that can deliver proper performances.

"Those players knew what they were doing. It wasn’t all perfect and there will be some of them really tired tomorrow but it was a 90 minutes that gave us three points and hopefully will let the momentum build."

And he hopes there will be more new faces to come, although he admitted the frenetic incomings will calm down for a bit.

Tisdale said: "I’ve had plenty of experience of the January window and when you can get signings made early and for the right reasons, they can make a real impact on the squad.

"If you make signings later in the window, you have to be careful but we have now made a platform with the signings that we can now be selective about what we do next, we don’t have to rush into anything.

"There’s an intent from the chairman that we improve the squad further and we’ll see, no promises, but we’ll see."

And from what he saw on the pitch, the future can now be viewed with a little bit more positivity for the relegation-threatened club.

He said: "I’m really pleased. There are a lot of ways to win a game but you have to pick one and go for it.

"We did that and we put a lot of effort in but I think we deserved it.

"We had to show some kind of gumption and spark in our game. We haven’t won in a while although we have been unlucky in the last few games not to get more.

"Results are what it is all about though but our performance matched that need.

"The players were aggressive in their intent, they got stuck in an worked as a team.

"We could have scored more but I’m delighted we got that late goal because that gave us credit for our performance."