Brian Barry-Murphy has highlighted how much Carlos Borges has improved the defensive side of his game following Manchester City Under-21s' destruction of Manchester United, a game in which he scored four goals.
City thrashed their local rivals 6-1 at Leigh Sports Village on Sunday, even though it was United who actually took the lead early on through Rhys Bennett's header. The first half was evenly contested, with both sides playing nice football and looking to create chances.
It was the Blues who found the next goal, though, as Borges got the first of his haul after latching on to Shea Charles' smart through ball and nudging it past Radek Vitek. The freezing, torrential rain meant the quality decreased after the break and United actually had the better of the opening stages as Charlie McNeill twice went close.
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But a rapid breakaway counter-attack in the 64th minute saw Borges slot home his second and the floodgates open. The Blues would find the back of the net a further four times in the following 25 minutes as the Portuguese notched another two while Dire Mebude and Will Dickson also got in on the act.
Barry-Murphy was full of praise for Borges, who now has three hat-tricks to his name this season, but wanted to compliment his work going backwards as well as forwards. “For me, the performances where you work so hard for the teams and you get your rewards doesn’t always happen, getting those goals and his defensive display was exceptional,” he told City's in-house media.
“That is a big area of improvement for him, his attacking qualities are obvious and there for all to see and he was pretty clinical with the way he finished those chances.
“He is an exceptional lad and a great guy, so it is very important that we can push him in those areas where he needs to improve and that is the main part of his development really.”
The manager also moved to hail his side's commitment in difficult conditions. He continued: “I thought it was a high-intensity game, it was a good test and for a lot of the game I thought it was quite even.
“We had to show a real resolution and commitment to defend the goal and to be really aggressive out of possession. After we showed that commitment in the second half we got our rewards, which is very good for us because it shows the players what can be achieved if they work hard for each other.
“I think it is very good for the players to experience a derby game and the unique nature of it, being in a stadium with fans in is very good for the lads.”
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