It is that time of year again, the Christmas lights are up and MFC are holding signing sessions with the Boro stars on a weekly basis. ComeOnBoro.com's Deputy Editor, Elle Brunton is bringing you exclusive interviews with all the Boro stars. Prior to Boro's trip to Peterborough, Elle caught up with defender Justin Hoyte to talk squad rotation, chasing promotion and lapses in concentration.
EB: You have been in and out of the team this season, with injuries and changeable team selections, but you issued a kind of rally cry to Strachan prior to the Plymouth match and made the starting eleven. Do you think that's the key, getting the attention of the new boss?
JH: You have just got to work hard in training and then perform on the pitch to keep your place but Tony McMahon played really well when I was out and Rhys Williams did really well at the weekend as well. Competition for places can only be good for the team. As you say I've been in and out of the team but that's what happens in football.
EB: Brad Jones has been performing well but Boro are unable to keep clean sheets at the moment, there has been a lot of chopping and changing in the defence, do you think that has contributed?
JH: Not at all, I think no matter who has come in they have deserved their place and have done well, maybe it is a lack of concentration. The other teams have only had one chance but they have scored the goals. We have worked hard in training on that as well as on our attacking play.
EB: Newcastle and West Brom are on course for promotion. We are the other team who came down from the Premier league last season, does their success put more pressure on us.
JH: For me personally, I just concentrate on how we get on week to week because that is all that matters - how we perform on the Saturday. Hopefully we can come away with three points we need and then three more the next match and the one after that.
After the games, then you look at how other teams have done.
EB: Southgate brought you to the club, is life at the Boro very different under Strachan?
JH: Yes it's different but it has been good, the same as it was with Southgate.
EB: And there are quite a few new faces in the dressing room this season besides the manager, how are they fitting in?
JH: All the new players are bedding in. Everyone's fitting in, with some of them it's like they've always been here!
EB: No hazing rituals going on then?
JH: Laughs no, no nothing like that.
EB: You've got two away games on the bounce now, Peterborough and QPR. The home fans have been giving certain players a bit of stick even before kick-offs, do you think they need to be more positive towards the team?
JH: I think the fans need to get behind us and be supportive no matter who we are against but [the majority] have been brilliant and I'm sure they will keep supporting us no matter what happens.
EB: Boro's away record was the best in Championship earlier in the season so the two away games should give us a good opportunity to get back on track away from home...
JH: We just need to get a win under our belts then think about the next game and another three points and then the next game.
EB: Boro are not leaking goals but, like you said we are conceding the one chance the opposition has and not taking ours, do we just need to put away our own chances?
JH: Football is a funny game. You know, you could say you score more and you win games, but we are letting goals in too so it's half and half. You can't say it's the defence or the strikers or the midfield, the whole team is to blame. We are not stopping goals and we are not scoring goals.
EB: After a good start to the campaign we are going in the wrong direction at the moment, is it a worry at this stage of the season?
JH: I don't think we are going in the wrong direction! As I see it the only way we can go is up and we will when we get the results we think should be getting.
First published on www.ComeOnBoro.com on 4/12/2009
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