NEIL Lennon paid tribute to defensive pair David Wheater and Matt Mills after Wanderers ended a 12-game wait for a clean sheet.

Keeper Ben Amos also came in for praise from the manager, who believes his side were looking more like their old selves after seeing out a 1-0 win against Brighton.

Wanderers had leaked 22 goals in their previous eight outings in league and cup but having shown signs of defensive improvement at Boro in midweek, the Whites were even more compact against Albion.

Mills came back into the side after suspension, while Tim Ream also impressed after returning from injury.

Having set a standard, Lennon has challenged his side to keep it up for the remainder of the campaign.

“Defensively we were very solid, and that pleased me,” the manager said.

“The goalie has come in and given us a lot more assurance, the two centre-halves were outstanding for the 90 minutes. There’s a calmness about the keeper which maybe has been lacking a bit.

“Matt Mills was outstanding. He had the bit between the teeth.

“Him and Wheater – that’s the level I want them at. I’m not going to get it all the time but I want more consistency from them.

“We left Dorian Dervite out because I felt like he needed a break. But I thought both centre-halves played very well.”

Victory calmed the nervousness which had spread about the club in recent weeks as the league position deteriorated from 12th to 19th.

And while the game was never an easy one to watch – Lennon also reserving thanks for the fans for their patience on a tight afternoon – the Northern Irishman believes his side got what they deserved.

“It was a great win in the context of the run we’ve been on,” he said. “It’s two wins out of five now, which puts a better gloss on the month.

“You could see in the first half it was edgy. We weren’t at our best in terms of tempo.

“Second half we were a lot more forceful and I think we could have picked them off with a couple of counters towards the end.

“Ben (Amos) made some good saves when he needed to but overall it was better.

“We’ve played better and lost, thinking back to Watford. But I’ll take that.”

Skipper Mills also thanked the supporters for staying positive before they got their reward with a sensational winner from Zach Clough midway through the second half.

“It’s a completely different feeling than it was before at the stadium,” he said. “We talked about it at half time, the tempo of the game was so slow but some of us have played nearly 40 games this year and I think at this stage of the season the game isn’t going o be played at such a high tempo.

“You have to manage the game differently by trying to keep the ball, maybe playing into the big man at times if that’s what’s working.

“You need to find a solution to win the game. Funnily enough I said to Messi at half time that all he needed to do was find that one bit of magic and I fancied us to keep the clean sheet – he lived up to his end of the bargain and we got the result.”