ASHLEY PHILLIPS has one aim at Middlesbrough this season - to get to the Premier League.
And he says there's a shared belief in the Boro dressing room that this can be the year.
Phillips was in-demand this summer once it became clear he would be allowed to leave Tottenham, but the 21-year-old was hugely impressed by what he heard from Boro officials and knew it was the "right club" to join.
And a month after putting pen to paper, he knows he made the right decision.
“I’m really enjoying it here so far," Phillips told BBC Tees.
"The manager's top and the players are top - it's a great group, and yeah, I'm sure we'll do great things this season.
"There's only one goal this season and that's the Premier League. As a group we believe we can do that, so it's just about executing it on the pitch.
"I want to be a Premier League player just like the rest of the lads, so I think this is the right club to do that."
RECOMMENDED READING:
- Kim Hellberg: 'It's so easy for people to create their own Middlesbrough narrative'
- Alex Neil admits to Millwall first & Kim Hellberg surprise after Middlesbrough draw
- Adilson Malanda Middlesbrough injury update after defender's Millwall absence
Phillips didn't feature for Tottenham in the summer so was playing catch-up when he arrived at Boro in mid-August. With that in mind, Hellberg has managed the centre-half carefully in his early weeks at the Riverside. But he's now starting to feature more prominently.
He started at QPR, played the second half against Norwich, when he scored the winner, and then played the full 90 minutes against Millwall on Tuesday night.
“I didn’t have the best of pre-seasons, so it’s been a case at the start of getting minutes when I can," said Phillips after Tuesday night's game.
"I managed to get a full 90 minutes today, and I feel good, so hopefully I continue to get those minutes and get myself to where I want to be.
"It’s the last game on Saturday before the international break, so we’ll give it our all and then treat the break like a mini pre-season to get ready for the next batch of fixtures."
The weekend game against Norwich was Phillips' first taste of the Riverside, and the occasion will live long in the memory for the defender after his stoppage time winner.
He said: "It was unbelievable. I don’t know what I was doing in that position.
"I was just in the right place at the right time, and for it to be the winner, I couldn't have asked for a better introduction at Riverside."
After the high of the weekend, Boro had to battle back from behind to snatch a point against Millwall in midweek.
“I think it's a game of two halves. We started really really slow in the first half, but in the second half we showed great character, brought it back, and were looking to win in the end," said Phillips on reflection.
"But you can't start games like that, especially at home. The gaffer didn’t need to say much, we knew.
"We didn't even get out of first gear in the first half, so we knew we had plenty more gears to go up and we did. We showed fantastic character but just couldn't get it in the end."
Share