| Middlesbrough | Sheffield United | ||
| Braithwaite Flint Downing |
7′ 18′ 25′ |
||
| Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
41% 13 5 7 10 |
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
59% 17 4 6 13 |
Swashbuckling Boro Foil Blades
Well after a Lazarus type performance on Saturday away to Millwall and all the subsequent comings and goings Tony Pulis will have hardly had time to draw breath as he prepared his side for the visit of Sheffield United whose fans are more accurate with stones and coins than their strikers were against newly relegated Swansea on Saturday tea time. Both Managers are trying to put the finishing touches to their respective squads or perhaps more aptly in Boro’s case trying to add five or six new starters before Thursday. Both Mangers were supposedly interested in Martyn Waghorn but Sheffield couldn’t pay up front and Derby nipped in at the last minute to sign the Striker from under both our noses.
The big question for Boro fans was would TP abandon the old guard after the poor showing in the opening 70 minutes on Saturday or go with those who salvaged a seemingly unassailable point in the Lion’s Den? The manner of the change of tempo was so marked that it would be difficult to justify the inclusion of some of those Saturday starters. Additional complications however were that with an indecisive and jittery defence behind the mono paced midfield approaching this game in a cautious manner could hardly be dismissed especially when he knows that he has the potential to up the ante in the closing stages if required.
A hot and muggy Riverside played host to the first home game of the season where fans expectations were certainly a lot lower than this time last year. No talk of smashing anything other than the two outgoing transfer fees with low hopes rather than high expectations. The stats were on our side however as Boro had won our second league fixture of the season in six of the last seven seasons, (losing to Leeds in 2014-15) and of course last season our second league fixture was a 1-0 home win against Sheffield United. Searching for any optimism at all for Boro fans, United had lost their first away league match of the season in each of their last five campaigns hopefully it would be six after tonight.
On the team front Paddy McNair was fit and on the bench as Nathan Wood dropped out for the experienced Ulsterman. Lewis Wing was given the opportunity to start where he left off with Grant benched. When we lined up we surprisingly went with a 3F back three of Fry, Flint and Friend to match Sheffield. Downing was wing back on the left with Shotton operating the right flank with Howson and Wing supported by Clayton leaving Britt and Braithwaite providing the main attacking thrust.
Almost immediately Boro were on the offensive with Shotton being surprisingly sprightly setting up Howson who saw his attempt blocked. As poor as Boro were on Saturday in the opening 70 minutes the opening 7 minutes of this game saw far more endeavour as the altered Boro shape outmatched and outplayed the Blades adorned in a kit presumably borrowed from the Highways agency. That foreboding sense of Teesside inevitability which had pervaded the concourses was replaced by oohs and aaahs as Boro stroked the ball about and looked a totally different proposition to that dishevelled and aged bunch which started at the Den.
It didn’t take long for the pressure to tell and a Corner delivered from Wing via Dael Fry’s head allowed Braithwaite to somehow poke the ball over the line to put us one nil up with the Great Dane grabbing his second goal in as many games. The Riverside erupted as the evening Sun’s West Stand shadow had just covered the pitch and the warm basking glow certainly made everything feel a little more special after the net bulged. This was a great start and a well-deserved lead appropriately involving two of the best players on the pitch at that juncture. Boro never really looked back from that point. The early goal had clearly disturbed the Sheffield game plan and we started to pass the ball really well with Downing enjoying his best game for a long time in a Boro shirt as he martialled the left flank.
On 18 minutes Shotton’s cross was deflected out for a corner by Egan and another Lewis Wing corner was delivered with aplomb this time to the head of Aden Flint who powered home his header leaving Henderson in the Sheffield goal absolutely no chance to make it two nil and the away fans looking as sick as their sides’ shirts. The game looked just about over as a contest at this stage, Boro playing with total composure and not a single poor or weak performance anywhere. Clayts was scrapping, tackling and battling, protecting his backline, Howson had probably his best game to date in a Boro shirt but then so did Braithwiate who was a class above anything the United defenders had to offer. A special mention though has to go to Wing, apart from his corners leading to goals he was strong in the tackle, willing to dribble and take players on and quick to get back and defend but it was noticeable that the United players couldn’t shake him off the ball. He was standing firm and looking every inch the part and in no way looked like a reserve player taking a step up. He was head and shoulders literally over anything that United had to take him on.
As mentioned both Shotton and Downing were running the flanks and in total control and with twenty five minutes just ticking over on the scoreboard a deep Shotton cross from the right evaded everyone except Stewy homing in from the left to stick out a leg sending the ball back across the goal and past the despairing Henderson into the net. It looked a bit flukey and fortuitous in real time but who cared as we were three nil up and still had sixty five minutes to play! Downing’s celebration indicated as much and it seemed just then that everything we touched would turn to goal.
That was it really, no seriously we kind of retrenched a little knowing that the job was done and United had little option but to try and save their blushes and managed to get themselves into the game albeit too little far too late. The Police presence was a little more than the corresponding fixture last season when the event turned nasty with the South Yorkshire supporters throwing coins and stones. That increased security was perhaps just as well to prevent the 1,000 or so away fans this time throwing themselves under buses. The whistle went for half time just as a Braithwaite shot went narrowly wide of the post. The players trotted off to a well-deserved (and if truth be told unexpected) standing ovation.
The second half started with the Liverpool Welsh Whiz Kid Ben Woodburn brought on to try and work some magic. The lad did OK but as a side United just couldn’t make any build up count. At this stage Boro were happy to contain them with Randolph being called into action only twice during the evening from memory, one of which was however a full length effort to ensure a clean sheet was kept whilst the other was an up close fantastic reflex save. There were a few nervy moments with messy, scrambled defending which will need to be improved upon against better opposition than this (judging by TP’s histrionics on the touchline I suspect there is a strong possibility he agrees) but despite Sheffield trying to throw everything including the Kitchen sink at us they rarely troubled the Boro goal thanks in no small part to simply awful finishing in particular from last season’s goal machine Leon Clarke.
Wing fired in a few more corners, some of them not so good, low efforts that were either miss hit or routines that didn’t come off but another peach found Flint’s head again as he brushed aside his marker but couldn’t get the same power on it and straight at the relieved Dean Henderson. It could and probably should have been five or six but after the departures and anxieties I think all of us would have settled with three nil and as it happens that was pretty much what did happen as we seemingly settled for the three goals.
Apart from a little period of rushed clearances and nervy defending in the second half there wasn’t a single complaint to be made from the Home fans. Every single player raised their game and I can’t single out a poor performance or weak link. Britt ran himself selflessly into the ground before coming off for Fletcher with just over ten minutes remaining, Clayts came off for Grant to get a run out and shore things up and Howson eventually hobbled off after bravely attempting to carry on after a knock on his left knee which gave McNair his Boro Championship debut. The subs all did OK but the starting eleven had done themselves proud with no exceptions. As the game wore on United were losing composure with a few feisty tackles which saw three yellow cards for them and one in particular was lucky not to see a red. MOM for me was Braithwaite who simply looked a class above and like a few others possibly had his best game for Boro. I heard Radio Tees gave it to Lewis Wing and I can’t argue against that and indeed had Stewy or Fry, or Shotton, or Clayts or, or, or, or… it was just one of those nights when it all worked, well at least for the first twenty five minutes which in fairness was all that was needed.
That late, last gasp George Friend equaliser on Saturday will have had a massive psychological boost as will the manner of this victory and along with the league table who knows it may even sway the minds of a few players and their agents that perhaps the Riverside is the place to be headed over the