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MIDDLESBROUGH manager Chris Wilder has admitted that some home truths with goalkeeper Joe Lumley has gone a long way to seeing improvements in recent games.
Despite keeping ten clean sheets in the Championship this season, Lumley has been hit with criticism for some performances this season for Boro after signing as a free agent after his release from Queens Park Rangers. Costly mistakes have led to Boro dropping points during the course of the season.
However, the 27-year-old has earned praise for his last two games where he kept a clean sheet against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup and helped Boro to a 2-1 win over Luton Town at the weekend with a number of important saves during the game.
Wilder admits that there has been frank conversations on the training ground about his performances and mistakes and he believes he is now seeing the fruits of his labour.
The Boro boss said: “Yeah it’s good. Listen, I’m not daft. I hear the noise and I feel it. There has been criticism of him, and there has been criticism of him in-camp as well. I won’t shy away from that.
“We’ve asked the question of Joe. ‘Come on, you need to do better and you need to make a few more saves and produce better performances’. I’ve got to say last two he has. So hopefully that’s an important step for him.
“We need an incredible, positive environment for everybody. They’re human beings, so he would have felt that. It was obvious and sometimes players do have to take responsibility because he wasn’t at the levels that he would have liked to have been.
“But I’ve got to say, that’s a big show of character from Joe when the little question has been asked of him. He’s come up with the goods and hopefully he can continue doing so.”
Boro return to action tomorrow night in the Championship where Wilder makes the trip to his former team Sheffield United. The 54-year-old was in charge for over five years before he left the club in March last year as the Blades were relegated from the Premier League. Victory could potentially see Boro climb up to fourth in the league table.
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