"He was bright, he showed a few flashes of what is going to come," the Boro boss said of his January transfer window signing.
"It was good to give him a start.
"There was one free-kick that we were standing behind and we thought 'he is not going to hit this' and it moved all over the place.
"It was obviously not the most popular decision to take him off, but we were very conscious that it was his first game and with Reading on Saturday as well, we had to have an eye on both things."