| Millwall | Middlesbrough | ||
| O’Brien Gregory |
12′ 37′ |
Braithwaite Friend |
87′ 90’+7 |
| Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
44% 9 2 6 13 |
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
56% 11 2 6 6 |
Young Guns silence Lions roar
From the euphoria of an unexpected Play Off place to the disappointment of the summary Villa exodus we entered the summer months licking our wounds. With an experienced Coach on board we started looking forward to August when our quest would recommence and with hopefully a few reinforcements on board. Those Villa fans that had goaded us in our misery were getting their just rewards as their club went into freefall and everything in our Boro world was looking rosy again as optimism on Teesside was high.
Fast forward to this week which had seen bickering between fans over Bamford’s departure and our finest seemingly now fair game for being picked off by Premiership vultures. The linked replacements had been failing to stir the hearts and minds of many, not that any had actually arrived apart from veteran Keeper Andy Lonergen to compete with Dimi for the Voltarol. Apart from Flint and McNair the lack of new faces to fill identified gaps from last season hadn’t materialised and with the window slowly closing confidence was openly seeping away on Teesside.
The news on Friday hadn’t improved the mood with Ben being subject to a series of offers from Turf Moor which eventually saw a deal agreed at £15M and new recruit McNair managing to pick up yet another injury without even kicking a ball for his new club. Erstwhile gaffer Gary Monk had come in for Ashley Fletcher yesterday in an attempt to lure him to Brum potentially leaving the squad looking lighter still. With the deal for the young striker still in the discussion phase he took up a place on the bench along with the rest of the U23 squad.
TP’s match squad consisted of those who will form the core, those who didn’t want to be here, those who mightn’t be here for much longer and those who many didn’t want to be here at all along and then the youngsters including 16 year old Wood. The team pretty much picked itself with the “old guard” of Leadbitter, Friend, Downing and Clayts in place, with last season’s arrivals Randolph, Britt, Howson and Shotton complimented by Braithwaite and Fry partnering newbie Flint.
Any king of result here today would be seen as a great result under the circumstances with most hope probably placed on the creaking old guard. Looking for any reason to be cheerful Middlesbrough had faced Millwall only twice previously on the opening day. They were in the 1987-88 and 1991-92 seasons and we won promotion at the end of both of those campaigns!
Millwall got Boro’s 2018/19 season underway and an early long range attempt by Braithwaite offered some misplaced hope. The Lions built up a bit of possession with Clayts clearing and then Flint getting beat and indignant claims for a penalty from the home fans. A ball swung across the box had Shotton stretching, getting his head to the ball to concede a corner as Steve Morrison was about to strike. Another panic in the Boro defence from the resultant Williams corner fortunately saw Randolph collecting the ball from Savage to momentarily calm things in what was a lively start. That telepathic understanding between Gibson and Ayala was clearly missing and the entire back line looked very uncomfortable and then O’Brien was set up from a cut back in the box by Lee Gregory and hit an unstoppable shot past Randolph on twelve minutes to deservedly give the Lions the lead.
On a quarter of an hour Boro were looking very much second best with little evidence on show that we were going to get anything from open play. A telegraphed Shotton throw in to Flint was collected by Archer as Boro attempted a poor set piece from which Gregory broke putting Fry under pressure and winning a corner. The corner from Williams saw Jake Cooper rise above the floundering Aden Flint and the header went over much to the Travelling Army’s relief. Another tussle with Fry resulted in Millwall’s third corner and again Williams swung the ball in this time fortunately cleared by Clayton as pressure was mounting.
If there was ever any doubt that this was a patched up disconnected bunch of motley Players then the opening twenty minutes provided all the evidence that what happened in pre-season was now continuing well into the start of the actual season. All the summer planning and Austrian high tempo fitness training looked to be well short of what was required and in truth we looked far worse than those toothless two legged affairs against Villa. Boro desperately needed to get a break but a run by Britt was badly timed and flagged offside. Clayts was busy plugging defensive gaps while Grant, Howson, Downing and Assombalonga were largely anonymous.
A fourth Millwall corner saw Cooper again beat Flint who looked all at sixes and sevens. As the game progressed Meredith unexpectedly and stupidly swung an arm out at Britt and was lucky to stay on the pitch. Meanwhile Shotton had restarted the game with a throw in but had little options presented or available to him as Boro just didn’t look joined up. Frustrations and niggles were building and the game descending into a scrappy affair with Clayts picking up a yellow. Tactically Boro were looking lost and wishing for the half time whistle. The scrappy battling nature of the game suited Millwall perfectly as we couldn’t get anything moving or offer any serious threat on the Archer’s goal. Everything we tried to put together was laboured and fell apart, another Millwall break saw Clayton risk a sending off with a calculated foul which had the home fans baying for a Red and being honest Clayton was very fortunate to stay on the pitch.
Downing and Braithwaite were getting no service, Grant and Howson were ineffective in the middle and Britt cut a forlorn figure. The lack of pace and creativity was blindingly obvious as the craft and graft of Millwall was simply overpowering Boro. Boro’s first corner went over the heads of everyone including Flint and was easily collected by the Millwall defenders and the minimal threat that should have been was easily defused. As ridiculous a back header that I have ever witnessed by Aden Flint left Randolph exposed and a Jason Steele style star jump from the Irish keeper allowed Lee Gregory to take advantage of Flint’s generosity courtesy of the ball going through Randolph’s legs.
This was about as bad a defensive performance as we have seen from Boro since the confusion witnessed in the early stages of Valdes’ introduction in the Premiership. Sadly the afternoon was panning out pretty much as many expected based upon the ineptness of pre-season games and questionable transfer activity. Just before the half time whistle Howson hit a ball that was in keeping with his accuracy levels since joining last summer going well wide summing up Boro’s first half in one single moment. Millwall’s Hutchinson had gone off the pitch to receive treatment and a he re-entered the fray with a bandaged head and fresh shirt Boro tried to break through but Britt was once again caught offside with the ball was played far too late leaving him well advanced of the Lions rear-guard.
The half time whistle sounded to temporarily put us out of our misery with Millwall just picking us off as we managed to get ourselves into trouble and offered absolutely nothing in terms of creativity or quality on display. For me at this stage I would have thrown on Chapman, Wing and Tavernier because we had nothing to lose and what was on display was simply worse thanwoeful. TP sent his charges out early from the dressing room without any changes in fact nearly five minutes before the Lions entered the arena which worryingly indicated to me that there wasn’t much in terms of a tactical team talk or the air like the home sides shirts had turned blue.
Boro got us underway in the second half presumably with just an old fashioned TP rollicking to give it all they had for the first ten minutes and let’s see what happens. An over hit George Friend ball to Downing was the initial offering as Millwall once again applied pressure and added to their corner count. Without Traore there was zero outlet, threat or pressure relief, without Bamford there was no ability to collect a ball and play football in the opposition half and without Ayala and Gibson our defence was nothing short of a shambles. That’s not a reflection on Fry but on the synergy of the unit.
A golden opportunity for Morrison was missed followed by another quick chance for Gregory as Millwall sensed Boro were rocking and a third goal would kill the game off completely. Substitutions were desperately needed if only to give the young lads some experience because the eleven on the pitch were certainly not going to affect anything as it stood. Grant soon made way for Lewis Wing who hopefully would grasp the opportunity and add some creative influence for Britt. Meanwhile Tavernier was also readied as Braithwaite nearly set up Britt whose effort came off a defender in Boro’s first meaningful assault. Savile inevitably then broke and Wing registered his first involvement by picking up a Yellow in a Clayton style one for the team to cut out the threat.
A Gregory volley was cleared by Fry as Boro seemed intent on making Millwall look like Brazil as O’Brien was next to have a pop at Randolph’s goal. Tavernier came on surprisingly for Clayton who had battled and scrapped all afternoon, perhaps his Yellow card earned in the first half was playing on TP’s mind with his scant resources. Boro then switched things around, Braithwaite going more central supporting Britt and then Tavernier and Downing operating on the flanks. That left Wing and Howson in an attempt to add some outlet and abandon the safety first defensive midfield mindset.
Tavernier was quickly fouled and the resultant free kick floated in by Braithwaite was knocked down to Britt six yards out but he couldn’t make it count. Then a ball in from Shotton aimed at Flint and Wing was fumbled by Jordan Archer as Boro showed a rare bit of attacking intent. Howson was becoming more involved in the game and started to feed the wide players with Tavernier on the left creating a much needed outlet. A break in play allowed for an intake of water under the scorching Mediterranean type sun as Millwall started to run the clock down with around twenty minutes remaining.
Flint hit a wayward ball that went straight out of play with Lewis Wing screaming for it to be played to his feet. Fletcher was brought on for Downing as TP gambled his last throw of the dice. Personally I would have went for Chapman but I’m guessing TP was emphasising his Plan A “knock it up to the big lad” as Braithwaite seemingly took up yet another position on the pitch replacing Stewy. A Braithwaite corner was cleared but Wing recovered it and cleverly split the Millwall back line and as the ball came to Fletcher he fluffed his lines putting off Flint in the process. A minute later and another Flint attempt had Archer called into action as we gathered some momentum finally.
Tom Elliot came on for Lee Gregory with ten minutes remaining; presumably his height was considered an advantage in matching up the arrival of Fletcher. Britt chased a ball that was just too weighty and Archer came off his line and collected comfortably. Another opportunity for Morrison was spurned as he past Friend but was blocked by Fry conceding the corner. Tavernier was causing problems for them and won another free kick allowing an opportunity for Neil Harris to bring on new signing Skalak for the exhausted O’Brien. Braithwaite’s ball in was then cleared for a corner which Braithwaite also took but the whistle went almost immediately for a foul in the box giving Millwall the respite they wanted as they slowed things down once more.
As the game was dying in the final minutes Tavernier collected the ball after some head tennis in the Lions box poking it through to Braithwaite who despatched the ball two yards out to pull one back for Boro. Harris then brought on another defender to try and shore things up as Flint went up front with Shotton Fry and Friend forming a back three. Five minutes added time came up as Friend hit a long diagonal ball up to Fletcher which went out for a corner, Boro desperately applied pressure with Wing, Flint, Braithwaite, Assombalonga and Fletcher all desperate to nick a late equaliser. Britt was grappled and dragged back as he tried to break and then Elliot nearly had a chance immediately up the other end as the game ended in a frantic five minutes.
A tackle on Britt this time saw a last minute Boro free kick followed up immediately by another free kick with Millwall desperately trying to clear their lines. A last ditch death knell Shotton throw in ended up with Lewis Wing firing in a low speculative shot which scuffed and skidded off the hard surface in the congested Millwall box ending up with George Friend poaching in the centre of the six yard box getting on the end of it to poke home stealing the most unlikely of points. Kevin Friend immediately blew the final whistle to send the Travelling Army barmy, simultaneously with his officials heading for cover from the wrath of the snarling Dockers.
Incredibly and unbelievably Boro rescued this game against all the odds thanks to the determination and fearlessness of youthful energy. Tavernier and Wing showed their mettle and if they can do that at the Den then they can do it anywhere in this division. A rollercoaster of an afternoon which was despondency personified, rescued by the introduction of the U23’s. MOM has to be Tavernier who changed the game when he came on along with Wing. Once the shackles of the sedentary midfield was gone Howson was far more influential and Braithwaite who had got himself involved all afternoon was for me close runner up to Tav in the MOM stakes.
Phew, welcome back to the Championship in a game that highlighted so much that is currently wrong with Boro and yet against the odds offered so much unplanned hope for the future.