WHAT A RESPONSE!

FOSTER HAILS HIS PILGRIMS AFTER STUNNING WIN AT BORO

- CHRIS ERRINGTON

PLYMOUTH Argyle's players were 'outstanding to a man' according to head coach Ian Foster in a morale-boosting 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium.

The Pilgrims had gone four games without a Championship win, picking up just one point and losing heavily 3-0 to West Bromwich Albion at Home Park, which led to a lot of criticism from some supporters.

However, Argyle were outstanding against Middlesbrough as they combined a constant attacking threat, which further goals would have fully justified, with a strong defensive shape.

Foster said: "I don't think it's a turnaround. Our levels of performance have been very good. It's difficult to say that when you are losing games of football but we have to be mindful of who we are losing games of football to.

"We were all disappointed on Tuesday and it's a hard for a coach to come out and justify some performances because it feels like you are making excuses but genuinely the players gave everything in the three games in six days.

"The message was to maintain the levels of performance because they were decent, but they were just against really good teams. We thought if we could maintain those levels we would get points on the board in games like this - and I mean that respectfully.