Mat attack for Boro as Leicester thank home-grown hero

Leicester City fans were rejoicing one of their own this weekend, as local youth product Joe Mattock scored a spectacular goal to hand his side an invaluable three points away at stuttering Middlesbrough. The match was a cagey affair and until Mattock's thunderbolt it seemed as though Gareth Gardener's Boro side were set to frustrate the promotion chasing Foxes. Leicester boss Mark Rollings was quick to praise the perseverance of his side, and reserved special praise for his young starlet Mattock.

"We had to keep battling and I am delighted we got the three points we clearly deserved. Middlesbrough struggled to get much going, but defended well and made things very difficult. We see what Joe is capable of every day in training and it is no surprise to us that he has found the net with that one. I have had more bids for him than any other player this season but we are not interested in losing him. He is a fantastic defender, brilliant going forwards and will mature into one of the worlds best full backs. The fans love him and he couldn't be at a better club for his long term development."

With Middlesbrough the only club in the top 6 of The Championship to not pick up maximum points the race for Premier League promotion seems well and truly on. The young Welsh manager seemed confident however that his side remained in the driving seat.

"It's another step towards our goal for the season but at the moment everyone is chasing hard so we must keep the results ticking over. Every week that passes that we are ahead I fancy our chances even more because we have a young fresh squad who will go the distance. Personally I believe this result leaves Middlesbrough with way too much to do for automatic promotion, while Portsmouth will finish in the top 2 in my opinion. That leaves it as a straight shoot out between Aston Villa, Everton and ourselves so expect it to go right to the wire. We are confident however, and feel we are the team to topple at present."

Finally Rollings outlined recruitment plans for the coming weeks.

"We will be bringing in a couple of loans over the coming weeks. We had a look at a couple of players with a view to permanent deals but we aren't really in a position at the moment to be going down that route. We will box clever, supplement with loans and look towards the end of the season for anything else. We have one spare loan slot free if any managers think they may have a player we could use here."

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