| Middlesbrough | Leeds United | ||
| Wing | 47′ | Philips | 90′ +11 |
| Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
31% 9 3 2 11 |
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
69% 17 4 9 8 |
Sit back setback
Both sides had something to prove to their fans this afternoon after capitulation had become a byword to describe the last time both of them were in competitive action. I’m not so sure which was the most damaging, losing at Home to your nearest Promotion chasing rivals in the Automatic spots and being knocked off the top of the pile in the process or meekly exiting the FA Cup to a side two leagues below you. Either way both sets of players and managers had been on the receiving end of some scathing criticism over the last few days.
Injuries were a talking point in the build up to the game with Bielsa having the greater problems, one being whether to rush Paddy back quickly from a long layoff after his late scoring feat last weekend off the bench. Adam Forshaw and Mateusz Klich’s knees were causing them problems while Pablo Hernandez’s groin was receiving treatment, consequently all were suspect in terms of making this one. Gaetano Berardi and Stuart Dallas were both definite long term non-starters. 19-year-old Jamie Shackleton would likely make the Leeds squad with Bielsa claiming he was down to the bare bones. Another youngster Jack Clarke would likely be involved and Izzy Brown on loan from Chelsea was also tipped to make the squad and perhaps his first appearance after he recovered from a knee problem.
Tony Pulis had a full complement at WBA on Saturday but returned from Newport with his squad battered and bruised physically and emotionally and no doubt with a few additional aches and pains after being stuck in a Coach all Tuesday night. Hugill, Assombalonga and Wing were all doubts with Saville’s ankle also being questioned. Lewis Wing had been playing through the pain barrier apparently so would have to be considered doubtful as would Stewart Downing with a poorly contract.
The away end had the largest following all season with 4,500 Leeds Fans making the journey north ensuring the game would be played with an electric atmosphere. It was very noticeable from the North stand that the swathe of Leeds fans in the SE corner was actually bigger than the South Stand contingent a point not unnoticed by Leeds themselves as they opted to change ends when they won the toss. Klich had made the Leeds starting line-up as did Bamford but Forshaw was missing out on a Riverside return. Boro went with the usual three at the back with Shotton on the right and George on the left. JOM was as expected restored to the middle with Wing, Howson and Saville taking up the other berths leaving Hugill up front all on his own.
The game started predictably with Leeds going full out from the off applying pressure and bossing proceedings. This is routine for Bielsa’s sides and it did cause early consternation but Randolph was never seriously troubled despite their domination in the opening twenty minutes. A free kick was easily collected by Randolph, Bamford was always never far from our keeper trying to unsettle him and a break down the left ended with Klich sending his shot well wide of the target. Our midfield at this stage looked to be on the back foot and sitting deep as we struggled to deal with the pace and energy from the early Leeds pressure.
The storm which Leeds had clearly intended to create started to die out a little as energy levels sapped. A few challenges from Wing and Saville started to have an effect on the ease at which the visitors had been breaking forward. Howson also started to get to grips in anticipating some of the slick movements and cutting things out whilst Friend on the opposite side made a few man size early tackles. Shotton looked to be very short on fitness as the diminutive Alioski ran him ragged but also out jumped him on several occasions and sadly as the game went on it didn’t get any better. The sunlight was blinding those sat in the East stand and with Randolph constantly trying to find Shotton out there with his clearances it didn’t help Ryan in trying to find the trajectory of the ball in the full glare of that low winter sun. A burst from George Friend later in the half down the left and a low fired cross across the box was nearly met by Shotton in the first half as he slid in just a split second too late with the Leeds goal at his mercy.
Boro’s first attempt came on the quarter hour mark as Saville took a few touches and delivered a shot which was routinely dealt with by Cassila in the Leeds goal but at least it was on target. Six minutes later and it was Saville again who this time after being fed in by Friend had Cassila pushing the ball out from his left hand corner as Boro were seriously getting into the game having withstood the all-out assault from the Kick Off. A Minute later saw the entire Riverside rise to their feet in a minutes applause for Luke Jobson who lost his life under such tragic circumstances in Yarm two weeks ago with the Leeds fans respectfully joining in the united tribute.
That moment seemed to galvanise Boro and signalled the end of any Leeds domination and on the half hour mark Lewis Wing went close with a daisy cutter which went just wide. A few minutes later Friend went on one of his stumbling, uncoordinated, dribbling runs into the box which ended with a toe poke at the near post which Cassila smothered safely. Just five minutes later and Paddy got on the end of the type of ball we all hoped he wouldn’t from ex Boro loanee Jack Harrison but skewed his shot well wide to the left of Randolph’s upright. The half had now lost a lot of its early visitor induced momentum. Boro had started to get a stranglehold on the game with our progressive midfield coming out well on top of things and indeed bossing the flow of the game. The last bit of first half action saw a poorly hit Saville free kick for a foul on Hugill but it was never going to threaten Cassila’s goal.
So the half ended with honours even and even allowing for the vastly contrasting styles it was a fair reflection with both sets of fans applauding the players off the pitch. Boro came out for the second half unchanged whilst Bielsa removed the youngster Jack Clarke for Hernandez and Referee England got matters under way after a sometimes controversial interpretation of the rules in the first half. Hugill had been punished for several challenges presumably backing in and playing his opponent rather than the ball whilst Alioski had played Shotton all afternoon with zero intent on playing the ball much to the home fans annoyance.
Those officiating annoyances vanished when JOM found George Saville who played in George Friend racing down the left wing and cut the ball back to Lewis Wing who took his chance with a beautifully accurate side foot to break the deadlock putting Boro deservedly 1-0 up with just three minutes of the half gone. The volume suddenly ratcheted up several levels as the home fans finally had something to cheer about and truly get behind at the Riverside seeing their team take the lead. A rendition of “Leeds are falling apart again” was aimed at the large SE contingent who were now extremely quiet having just witnessed Wing’s strike up close and with it hopes of regaining the top spot.
Leeds rallied, tried to get back into it but Ayala and Flint were immense at the back winning everything and giving Bamford no room to operate or influence anything. Howson was running the show on the right side of midfield, JOM was majestic in the middle with Saville scrapping giving no mercy and still driving forward along with Wing and between them causing the Leeds defence all sorts of problems. Hugill was manfully battling but not really getting much joy other than a physical workout with Jansson and Cooper.
A nicely weighted lob for Wing to collect from JOM just wouldn’t come down for Lewis and he was eventually closed down by the time he could try and get his shot off. That effort seemed to be enough to tweak whatever was left of his troubling groin problem as he went down on the turf dejectedly just a minute later. Mo Besic was brought on in his place to replace Lewis who had given his all for the cause and wore his heart on his sleeve all afternoon.
Wing going off however destabilised what had been an excellent Boro engine room up to that point. His absence meant that Leeds came back into this and started to pressure us. George Friend got a boot to a ball that was destined for the net in a six yard box scramble to spare blushes then as Leeds upped the ante Randolph somehow got behind two more close efforts that sent alarm bells ringing.
Since Besic arrived we seemed to be sitting deeper, inviting pressure and struggling to break out. Saville and Howson were still carrying things forward but without Wing linking things up it had lost all semblance of shape. From dominating the middle we now looked susceptible to a Leeds come back with just twenty minutes remaining. Bamford then should have pulled back the deficit when he pounced on a Jansson header that had come back off the post with Randolph stranded but again Paddy spurned his chance putting it wide. Things were now getting very nervous, twitchy and uncomfortable.
Howson set up Besic who broke free and fired in a cross that was too much for Hugill but it looked like George sliding in would put us two up but the chance went begging and Leeds didn’t need a reminder that they needed to get something from this game. This game still had everything to play for and TP made a double sub presumably in an effort to shore things up with Assombalonga coming on for Hugill and Clayts for Saville. A fresh Britt for the tired and jaded Hugill made sense but unless Saville was injured it removed a threat from our Arsenal as Clayts was never going to be an unlikely goal scorer. There were some boos when Clayts came on but they were largely drowned out by applause and cheers with the forlorn hope that the majority of the booing had come from the Leeds corner for their ex player.
The game turned again at that point with the negativity of the decisions to replace both Wing and Saville who had both been excellent, with defensive central midfielders thereby removing both creativity and attacking intent when in reality what we needed was an outlet and support for the lone striker. With Downing or VLP left on the bench I felt an opportunity was being surrendered at the time. With only eight minutes remaining we were getting our heads around our midfield being dismantled and restructured with the instinctively deeper lying players when there was a corner awarded for Leeds that was delayed for a bizarre incident in the Leeds dug out. Initially there were jokes in the North Stand that someone had perhaps nicked Bielsa’s blue bucket but sadly it seemed that as we learned later it was young Jack Clarke who had suffered some sort of incident in the away dug out and had collapsed.
The game was stopped as the Ref waited until the paramedics attended to the young lad and managed to stretcher him off down the tunnel after giving him emergency first aid. That incident clearly affected the concentration of both sides, Boro cleared that initial corner but pressure was building as we were camped in our own half and offering little offensive threat. The clearances and scrappy battles as we stood firm rallied the home crowd and created a sense of unity for the first time in months as we were literally hanging on. The hope was that we looked to be capable of just seeing this out despite the added 12 minutes for the subs and the incident in the dugout.
Boro had a corner headed clear by Jansson and Harrison broke winning a corner which we in turn scrambled clear but the ball then came across to Alioski who brought it down with his arm but ignored by the Ref he drove to the corner of the Boro 18 yard box and fired a low shot which deflected off Howson’s outstretched arm. We had figured that the Ref just concluded that one arm cancelled out the other and as play went Darren England bizarrely brought the game back, awarded Leeds a free kick and yellow carded Howson. Just moments earlier Assombalonga had been “professionally collided” with by the same player who had spent his entire afternoon jumping into Shotton yet awarded us nothing much to the frustration of the home fans and the home bench.
The inevitable equaliser finally came as Shotton managed a tired headed clearance conceding a corner. He limped painfully into position and with everyone piling into the Boro box the ball was glanced back quickly from Cooper who lost his marker Ayala to an unmarked Phillips who headed it in past Randolph and Clayts and Assombalonga who had retreated onto the goal line to send the away fans wild and sink Boro hearts. The game restarted but the whistle went within seconds and those three points suddenly now reduced to one. In balance and in fairness Leeds were worthy of a point but I walked away feeling that if only we had been more positive in our substitutions it could have been a different story. MOM was Howson but had Wing stayed on it may have been a close call and indeed Saville and JOM were also worthy contenders.
A frustrating day but at least a decent game of football tinged with sadness and then concern over Jack Clarke but finished off by the inevitable trouble caused in the Town after the game with hordes of Police chasing around after Football Hooligans.