Dario Gradi has praised his defenders for keeping a clean-sheet in the 7-0 win over Barnet. The Railwaymen got their season up and truly running with a emphatic win but the Alex boss was equally pleased with the shut-out.

Dario told the club's official web-site: "There were a lot of plus points to take from the game on Saturday and one of the main ones was the clean-sheets. I thought the two centre-halves were excellent.

"Ada did a great block after their forward had let the ball run. Last year, he may have not got there or tripped him so it was a great challenge from him. He listens and tries to do what you want him to do, to make sure he improves.

"He has success by learning from his mistakes. There is still room for improvement but he isn't spending most of the game on his backside anymore and he certainly didn't give away so many free-kicks on Saturday.

"David (Artell) did very well for the goal. At the time I thought they had given him a free header but he had got across his man to get his header in. It was a really determined goal and we know he has a record of doing that.

"The two centre-halves have chipped in with a goal so that's a start. The most pleasing thing for me was that they came in at half-time and were saying that they wanted a clean-sheet. We are on at them but they were really determined not to concede a goal.

Dario added: "We defended well on Saturday but we will have to defend even better on Tuesday if we are going to keep Ipswich out."