Pools head coach impressed with Jamie Miley's "mature performance" in Boston win
Hartlepool United head coach Anthony Limbrick has hailed Jamie Miley's "mature performance" during Saturday's comprehensive win over Boston.
It was a memorable week for the Miley family as younger brother Lewis lifted the League Cup with Newcastle at Wembley before Jamie scored his second Pools goal at the weekend.
After scoring a 96th minute equaliser against Braintree on his Pools debut, most fans were expecting Miley to go straight into the side as he looked to make his mark following a high-profile January move from Premier League Newcastle. However, he was an unused substitute for the next two games - Limbrick's first two matches at the helm - and has been in and out of the side since then.
There are signs that he is beginning to settle and Miley has started all of the last three matches, forming a promising partnership with the indefatigable Nathan Sheron. The 21-year-old was chosen as the fans' man-of-the-match following the draw with Solihull and produced perhaps his best performance in a Pools shirt at the weekend, pulling the strings from midfield with his purposeful passing and completing the scoring with a well-taken goal three minutes from time.
"He's really starting to make an impact on the game," Limbrick said.
"He's clearly got good vision, he can see a pass. He's still learning when to risk possession and when to keep the ball. We had a chat at half time - I thought we were combining very well in the final third, but we were trying to force it too much in the middle third. They were very compact with their shape and they changed to a back four in the last 10 or 15 minutes because we were playing through them. That meant the pass was on out wide to combine with the wing-backs and I think he managed that really well in the second half in terms of when to penetrate and when to keep the ball. That was pleasing, he showed quite a mature performance with that.
"Obviously the goal, I didn't realise quite how good the goal was until I watched it back. The keeper was out, there were bodies in the way and I thought it was a really composed and clever finish."