Philip Tallentire: Everything about Boro defender Ben Gibson screams 'leader'

It takes a big man to say sorry and Ben Gibson is a giant.

Everything about him screams ‘leader’.

Just a few weeks past his 22nd birthday, he speaks with great maturity and is developing at a remarkable rate.

He’s already being talked about as a future Boro skipper and an England international.

But it’s in adversity that you find out the true measure of a man.

Dimi is helped up by Ben Gibson after being shown the red card

On Wednesday night at Birmingham City, Gibson made an uncharacteristic error that resulted in a penalty and a sending-off.

Anyone who has played team sport at any level knows some players will avoid taking the blame no matter what the circumstances are.

We all remember that annoying team-mate who would point the finger at anyone but himself when an unmarked player he was meant to be watching scores a soft goal.

Gibson isn’t that sort of player.

He didn’t look to make excuses for the under-hit pass that was intercepted by Clayton Donaldson, he didn’t blame an uneven piece of turf or accuse a team-mate of playing a poor ball in his general direction.

The Teessider held his hand up, apologised to his team-mates and vowed to use the experience to make him an even better player.

Speaking to the Gazette less than 24 hours after the game, Gibson said his team-mates had been “amazing” about the mistake, which led to Dimi Konstantopoulos conceding a penalty and being sent off.

Arguably the best player on the pitch at St Andrew’s before his mistake, Gibson confirmed that he said sorry to his team-mates in the changing room.

“I apologised to the lads but the lads were amazing.

Ben Gibson leads the salute to the fans at the final whistle at Arsenal

“They said a lot of positive things, they said that I’d had a great season and it was the first major mistake I’d made this season; they said I’d played a large part in us getting where we are so I should keep my chin up and forget about it, it’s gone and that it’s no use crying over spilt milk.

“It would rather not have made the mistake that led to the goal that’s cost us,” he added, “but it’s something that I will learn from.

“I’ve got a strong personality and I am a firm believer that if you don’t make mistakes you can’t learn from them.

“I haven’t made that mistake before and I will learn from that and become a better player because of it.

“I didn’t get enough on the back pass really, I let the ball run across my body to try and keep it in play rather than just hoof it out and obviously should have dealt with the ball before it bounced.

“It’s just one of those things and I will make sure I am a better player.”