Mehmet pleased with second half in 1-0 win

Mehmet Ali said his team delivered an improved second-half performance in Friday's 1-0 win at home to Middlesbrough under-21s.

We took the lead early in the second half when Bradley Ibrahim played a great ball over the top to Ismael Kabia, who made no mistake when he rounded the goalkeeper and tucked the ball into the bottom left.

But Mehmet was frustrated with elements of our performance, particularly in the first half.

"In terms of the performance, I think we have frustrations as a group of staff and players," he said. "Credit to our opponent, there's a reason why Middlesbrough have only lost one game in PL2 so far this season. They're a difficult opponent and very good at making the game scrappy. It was difficult for us to get a rhythm. 

"In the first half I thought their game plan was really good. We tweaked a few things in the second half and I thought we played really well from 45 to about 80 minutes. We got into some good areas and I'm pleased with the boys in terms of Jimi [Gower] getting into good little pockets and Ismael Kabia and Khayon [Edwards] off the sides, who did really well to break lines.

"We got our reward and our goal and then won ugly towards the end but nothing wrong with that. I just said that to the boys - good win, not our best performance, but really pleased with them."

Our goal was scored by Kabia, who was making his first appearance for the under-21s, and frequently displayed a desire to take his opposing left-back on and get a cross into the box.

"We've got eight boys that are in Dubai with our first team training and for me it's an opportunity for younger players to step up and Ismael Kabia took that today," Mehmet explained. "He took his goal really well, had a bit of a slow start into the game, but in the second half he stayed high and wide and did well to get at his opponent.

"He got in a lot of crosses so I'm really pleased with him but also all of the other lads stepped up. We had a few other younger ones today and all of them put in a really good shift and had some brilliance."

There was also a worthy mention for Ovie Ejeheri in goal, who showed speedy reflexes to tip a late header over the bar and produced classy distribution throughout the match.

"At 1-0 with 10 minutes added on he makes a big save from the corner, but also his bravery to take in the ball, be under pressure and show decision making to find the spare player but also know when to go over," Mehmet added. "Our younger goalies can definitely learn from that."

The team showed plenty of character and concentration to hold onto the 1-0 win, playing a total of 17 minutes of added time after a lengthy stoppage due to an injury to the referee.

"Especially when you're 1-0 up and playing against a team chucking everything at you, the boys defended well, got some key blocks and headers and also had the bravery," Mehmet said. "We could've gone and nicked it and got another goal on transition."