| Middlesbrough | Peterborough United | ||
| Assombalonga Friend Wing Fletcher |
47′, 70′ 50′ 62′ 87′ |
||
| Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
64% 10 7 2 19 |
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
36% 9 1 3 3 |
Five star Posh pushover
The Posh travelled up the A1 to the Riverside for the first FA Cup meeting between the two sides in forty-four years. Today’s visitors had an impressive record in the competition having scored in all of their previous 18 FA Cup ties. In fact this time last season they went to Aston Villa and thumped the Villains 3-1 so this tie was going to be a close affair with zero room for complacency from a Boro perspective.
Disappointing for me but perhaps good news for Boro was that Marcus Maddison would be suspended for this one as I was looking forward to seeing the lad. Steve Evans had new signings Danny Lafferty and Ben White starting in defence alongside returning Ryan Tafazolli for the Posh with ex Boro lad Callum Cooke on the bench. Tony Pulis had a few absentees with Ayala, Flint and Shotton all supposedly out injured. TP had already announced yesterday that youngest ever Boro player 16 year old Nathan Wood and 40 year old Dimi would likely be starting and in doing so taking the oldest player record to represent the club away from Robbo. New loanee VLP was expected to get some game time to build up his match fitness in what would be an unfamiliar Boro line-up.
The Boro line-up as anticipated was an unfamiliar one made all the more confusing by Pulis playing three Strikers! Yes that right THREE STRIKERS! Gestede, Assombalonga and Fletcher, all £27M of them along with Tav and VLP in the starting line-up. Nathan Wood was on the bench with McNair, Fry, Ayala (unexpectedly fit again) and Friend as a back four or even three depending on how we line up and who played where. Grant made up the starting eleven with the Greek God in goal. Apart from Lonergan and Clayts the bench had a very youthful look to it with Spence, Wing, Chapman and Walker alongside Wood.
Posh kicked off as Boro lined up with three at the back with Fry, Ayala and Friend. The earliest chance came to McNair on five minutes hitting a scuffed shot wide of O’Malley’s goal from the edge of the box after a Fry cross. At the other end a cross from Peterborough was left by Friend and Dimi but Toney advancing for Posh fortunately wasn’t alert to the chance. A really good corner taken from VLP saw Friend almost reach a far post header that had been accurately lofted over the entire Peterborough box. The game was open and entertaining without being really competitive at this stage and along with a sparsely populated Riverside had a pre-season friendly feel to it as the game approached the quarter-hour mark. On the positive Boro (Middles not Peter) looked comfortable.
Tav out on the left had tried a couple of dribbles at Ward but the Posh defender read his intentions and timed his tackle to perfection. McNair went on a mazy run and in the end ran out of oxygen or nerve as the Posh defence parted in front of him he then slipped with the goal at his mercy just about on the penalty spot. Twenty minutes had passed and Peterborough hadn’t seriously threatened but there was always the worry that a Typical Boro moment might allow them in. Ward took a long throw into the Boro box and as it was cleared out Ward this time launched a cross back in, which was then cleared to Dembele, who fired in a shot that went inches past Dimi’s right hand post. It was the nearest effort so far as the clock approached 25 minutes and a wake-up call to those in red.
A clever bit of play from VLP on the left earned a corner which he took himself but Ayala couldn’t get a clean header on it. Peterborough responded with an inswinging free kick that was glanced over by Dembele as they had settled more into the game. Tav broke free and beat two men to advance down the left but was wiped out by White, who collected a yellow for his troubles. The resultant free kick was played into the box but Boro’s attack looked disjointed with nobody taking responsibility. Posh passed the ball out of defence and went up through the gears and down the other end of the pitch, carving Boro (Middles) open with far too much ease and should have scored but Toney inexplicably put his shot over the bar with Dimi at his mercy. A foul by Tav on that man Ward again on the edge of our 18 yard box resulted in another scramble in Dimi’s box with Dembele eventually being beaten to a ball and out for a Posh corner as concerns were now being raised by the home fans.
In response to the building Posh pressure both Fletcher and Gestede had headers but one went wide and another straight at O’Malley. A slide rule ball for Gestede to run onto was closed down as the Benin striker should perhaps have made more of the opportunity with two minutes of the first half remaining. Another McNair dribble towards the Posh box ended with him eventually beating himself instead of shooting, the ball was cleared out and fell to Dembele who again advanced forward turning on the afterburners in a warning that this Peterborough side possessed some pace.
A Boro attack died out with Britt hanging onto the ball too long and then inevitably being overcrowded and losing out. Grant had to make a cynical challenge earning a yellow to prevent another high speed Posh breakaway from Britt’s loss and that ended the first half action, which had started comfortably but ended with Peterborough looking the more likely to score. TP’s strike heavy side just didn’t connect or enjoy any intuition between them and as a consequence, apart from high balls into the box, didn’t offer any real threat on O’Malley’s goal.
The second half commenced with Tavernier getting the “home Boro” kicking off with Lewis Wing having come on for VLP. With McNair now looking like a right wing-back, overlapping and acting as a decoy, it dragged defenders away from Wing to allow the sub to pass it into the path of Tav and as he was tackled the ball broke to Fletcher, who shot at goal but with O’Malley being challenged by Gestede he tipped it onto the Posh crossbar only for Britt to react first and head it into the gaping net. Seconds later a cross from the left found Gestede who headed it back towards Britt instead of goalwards and the chance for a quick second was lost. Though not to worry, as Friend then broke down the left, passed it to Fletcher who cut towards the goal line and darted into the box fending off a challenge to slide it back through to Friend, who had continued his run and slid it home to make it 2-0 with the half not even five minutes old.
A McNair challenge in an effort to rescue a previous lapse led to a free kick that was hit straight at Dimi by Toney but the big Greek got down to it easily as Posh looked to be running out of ideas. George Friend was just in front of the dugouts under pressure from Ward but when George twisted and turned, Ward also tried to turn but his studs looked as though they got stuck in the turf and his knee seemingly gave way requiring treatment. Dimi had hearts in mouths minutes after the restart as he nonchalantly dealt with a back pass but while under pressure calmly waited until the last second before passing it away from the advancing attentions of Toney.
As the game entered a quiet spell, a ball up-field to Wing on 62 minutes saw Lewis looking for options and as McNair again dragged the attentions of the two covering defenders momentarily, Lewis despatched a rocket from twenty five yards out that screwed mid-flight towards O’Malley’s top left and found the upper corner of the net to make it 3-0. It’s been said before but when Wing came on Boro (Middles) looked better balanced and joined up. A series of passes between red shirts patiently probed the Posh backline and it was played in to Wing who slid through a well-paced ball to Gestede, who then back-heeled it into the path of Britt taking out two defenders and in doing so left Britt with a cool final pass into the back of O’Malley’s net with the 70-minute mark just coming up.
Three minutes later Gestede was taken off to give 18 year old Stephen Walker a chance to get some more experience and simultaneously Tav also went off for Harrison Chapman to get some first team action. Steve Evans then brought Callum Cooke on for Reid upon his Riverside return. With the game having by now ended as a contest, Evans then brought on Cummings for Dembele with just over ten minutes remaining. Britt had the good fortune of a bobble breaking kindly to him and broke free on 84 minutes, the ex-Posh Striker had Walker screaming at him to release it to him but Britt tried to beat one man too many and the chance for a fifth and a personal hat trick was gone. Not to worry, a ball out of defence from Fry to McNair saw him run down the right flank linking up with Fletcher in a slick move and then saw Walker’s low cross deflected back out to McNair who then centred it to the advancing Fletcher, who pivoted in the middle of the Posh 18-yard box and hit it on the volley giving O’Malley no chance and 5-0.
On 88 minutes Lafferty cut a ball across the Boro (Middles) six-yard box to cause a late scare but the ball wasn’t met at the far post after evading Dimi and George and it went out harmlessly for a goal kick. A minute later Britt was through in the Posh box and was brought down for what looked like a stonewall penalty but Ref James Livington at 5-0 seemingly had a heart and waved away Britt’s protests. Three minutes of added time went up on the fourth Officials board and in the last second a late fierce drive was acrobatically palmed up onto the bar by Dimi to keep a clean sheet on his record-breaking appearance.
MOM was Lewis Wing who came on and changed the entire game but Grant was also worthy of a mention for his reading of the game and spreading the ball around. McNair had a strange game; he had a few wobbly runs that came to nothing but was always full of running and looked far better and coherent when he had Wing to link up with (as did everyone else to be honest). In a strange way I felt that Paddy had shown something there that could maybe be tapped into further, especially with Lewis Wing in front. An underwhelming first half which just didn’t knit together up front at all and then a second half that was light years away from it, yielding a scoreline that nobody was expecting at half time and as a consequence the fourth round now beckons.