Battling Ben Gibson insists the Boro rigid rear-guard will be aiming to start another run of blanks at Bournemouth on Saturday
Ben Gibson
Boro's dramatic defensive improvement has sneaked under the radar.
With the focus on the now broken goal drought, the back four’s upturn has escaped attention.
A late leveller against Forest denied Boro a club record eighth successive shut-out at home. But battling Ben Gibson insists the rigid rear-guard will be aiming to start another run of blanks at Bournemouth on Saturday.
“With everyone talking about the lack of goals, us closing in on that clean sheet record maybe went under the radar a little bit but we don’t mind that,” said the solid stopper. “We just get on with it.
“It was a long run without conceding. What was it? Almost 12 hours. That’s good. That’s doing your job properly.
“As a defender every game you want to keep a clean sheet so yes, it was disappointing not to get that record. But we will try to improve and start again to build another run beginning at Bournemouth.”
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Before Darius Henderson’s controversial ‘handball’ goal, Boro had gone 11 hours and 54 minutes without leaking at the Riverside, a run that goes back to the mid-December 1-0 defeat to Brighton.
It was also the first goal conceded in open play - home or away - since losing to leaders Leicester in January.
And, insists Gibson, the watertight record is not about individuals but more deep seated change.
“We have defended really well as a unit and as a team,” he said. “But it hasn’t been a set defence of four.
“There have been a lot of different partnerships, you’ve got to include Rhys (Williams), Woody (Jonathan Woodgate), myself, Kenneth (Omeruo), Dani (Ayala) and whoever has played at centre-half has done really well.
“The defence is settled now into a shape and mentality that seems to work well no matter who plays.
“But that hasn’t just come from the back four - it is the whole team, it is Danny (Graham) and the wingers and whoever plays up front closing down right up the field and hard work right through the team. We’ve done a lot of work in training on the shape and the tempo and now we are reaping the rewards,”
But it hasn’t always been like that, admits Gibson. Earlier in the season the defence was under the spotlight for different reasons.
“We were scoring but conceding a lot of goals early on and then people were looking closely at the defence,” he recalled. “Look at the Bournemouth home game, that was probably a low point for us lads at the back.
“We gave away two penalties in first 12 minutes. We were two down and they hadn’t had a shot.
“I was on the bench waiting and it was crazy game. And to be fair, there have been a few games where we conceded goals were not happy with but we feel we’ve put that behind us now.
“It will be a very different team that plays Bournemouth. The personnel may be similar but the set-up and approach will be very, very different.
“We are happier now because we know if we keep clean sheets, then nick a goal you have a chance of winning the game. If you’ve got to score three goals to win a game you make it much more difficult.”
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