Middlesbrough boss Tony Mowbray has hailed the contribution of winger Merouane Zemmama to Saturday's 3-2 Championship win at Millwall.The Morocco international came off the bench to make his second appearance for the club and supplied assists for goals from Scott McDonald and Leroy Lita.
"That's why he is here, he has genuine quality and class with the ball," Mowbray told BBC Tees.
"Sometimes that little bit of class makes the difference."
Zemmama, 27, joined Middlesbrough for an undisclosed fee from Mowbray's former club Hibernian in January.
Mowbray was also pleased with the debut of defender Andrew Davies, who made a return to Teesside from Premier League side Stoke City on Friday.
The 26-year-old made 65 appearances for Boro during his initial spell with the club where he started his career, before moves to Southampton and Stoke City.
"He's a man and a leader on the pitch," said Mowbray. "It's a big ask for [Jonathan] Grounds and [Seb] Hines, two young boys with very little experience, to keep going week in, week out in this league at this intensity.
"He trained with us for five or six weeks during the snow and bad winter we had, and while he got better he was very ring-rusty having not played for a long time.
"He got better and then Stoke called him back, maybe trying to put some pressure on us to do something but we weren't in a position to do that.
"When I heard there was potential for him to go on loan to a lower league club, I made contact with Stoke and asked the question. Here he is, it's at very little cost to the club, yet in the four or five weeks I see a player who can help us."
Source: BBC Sport
Source: BBC Sport