| Middlesbrough | Bristol City | ||
| Webster | 31′ | ||
| Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
54% 23 7 5 10 |
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
46% 15 5 6 9 |
Robins go bob bob bobbin’ along
This game either came along at the right time to right wrongs or it came too soon to allow any time for inquests and putting wrongs right. Whatever the conclusion there was always the A4 game plans that could be issued mid game if things went pear shaped for TP. The Robins had a sticky patch themselves which they put right at Sheffield on Saturday the hope on Teesside was that two long fights in quick succession may have tired them.
TP still had Lewis Wing doubtful as was Ryan Shotton but had the opportunity to start Stewy again after a contract resolution that was initially greeted suspiciously on April Fool’s day. The enigma that is VLP was also unavailable but nobody is quite sure when, where or even how his unavailability started and indeed had he not tweeted a picture of himself in Huddersfield its quite probable he would never have been reported as missing.
City like Boro have an impressive away record this season and had lost just one of their last six away league matches against Boro in any case with it coming at the Riverside last season. Perhaps of even more concern was that the Robins had been beaten just once in their last nine away Championship games, winning six of them and scoring in all of them!
Along with West Brom only Bristol and Boro have won more away points in the Championship this season than at home. A defeat for Boro would mean a fifth straight defeat which hasn’t happened since that fateful post Xmas meltdown of 2013 which led to a root and branch overhaul in the Summer that never actually happened. Callum O’Dowda was the only concern for Lee Johnson apart from a few long-term Keepers missing which didn’t seem to have much of an effect on their 3-2 win over Sheffield United which saw them go above Boro on virtue of goals scored. After tonight Bristol also had a game in hand over Boro so a victory was a requirement if TP had any credibility left in his talk of achieving a Play Off place, a fact that wasn’t lost on the fans either.
TP’s team selection saw the return of Downing once again restored to the starting line up at the expense of Ayala strangely as we went with a back three of the three “F’s”, Fry, Flint and Friend. Shotton and Downing were out wide providing the ammunition hopefully for the two Strikers Assombalonga and Fletcher. George Saville came into the middle for a start in place of Clayton who had been one of the better performers against Norwich.
An hour before kick off the heavens opened with a mixture of hail, rain and snow meaning that the pitch was absolutely sodden with the ball splashing around the immaculate Riverside Turf. The early period of the game was all Boro with Bristol looking to catch us on the break which they nearly did on a few occasions. Downing played in a great ball for Assombalonga to see his effort cleared off the line by Bailey Wright. The intent looked to be there and Downing’s ability to play perfect passes and long balls looked to be something added that we had been missing of late. Not long after Britt had the ball in the net but as per usual, he was ruled offside which seems to be a character trait or flaw in his reading of the game.
The old story about Britt needing five or six chances before he converts one seemed to be true to form tonight as he had yet another effort with less than a quarter hour gone but his shot was keeping with the levels of consistency that all our shots have been this season under Pulis which is over the roof of the stand or as near to it as possible. Next it was Saville’s turn to illustrate the point when Howson done well in setting Shotton up and as the cross came in to Saville he managed to blaze it well over also. The quarter of an hour now fully gone and truthfully, we should have been easily three up.
Howson was next to try and test the Bristol Keeper and fortunately this time he hit the target but it was competently dealt with by O’Leary in goal. It was from a tight angle but at least it was on target which was something to be grateful for. Seeing the example from Howson, Saville then tried his luck with a long and low attempt which was easily smothered but under the conditions could have caused a spill or slip so a worthy effort. Bristol were looking dangerous when they broke out, they broke with speed and crucially understanding in that they anticipated where their teammates would be as though they had actually practised this sort of stuff instead of pausing taking three steps and passing to a static colleague. No, they were passing into open areas and lo and behold there was a Purple short running onto it. The smallest man on the pitch Da Silva was pretty good at this breaking and dribbling malarkey giving Ryan Shotton a torrid time. It brought back fond memories of Fabio.
Despite the majority of Boro possession and chances the Robins looked dangerous and there was that “Typical Boro” feeling in the North Stand if we didn’t put one of them away very soon. Flint had a header go wide which again seems to be his trademark this season and then the moment the Riverside were convinced we had scored when another Downing delivery was headed back across to Jonny Howson who shot again at an angle but it cannoned off the far upright, pinging back into the box which Fletcher reacted to only for Ex Boro loanee Kalas clear it off the line, “Typical Boro” or what!
There was incredulous disbelief that somehow that had stayed out and still the score remained 0-0. Then the fatal moment arrived when a Da Silva delivered Corner was well worked, Wiemann (I think) dummied a run to the near side of the six yard box drawing the entire Boro backline with him in a Sheep like movement leaving Webster unmarked to head home with complete freedom. 0-1 and the disbelief was deafening in its silence. Tantrums and finger pointing abound over who was marking who when the problem was like as not sat on the bench being rested hence the big central defensive hole. Webster of course was the budget Bristol replacement after they sold Flint to Boro illustrating perfectly exactly why we bought Flint or so we thought.
The atmosphere then became somewhat subdued and eerily quiet as for the most part the home fans had kept their angst to themselves knowing that Boro do not recover from going a goal down. The Robins then nearly doubled their lead as still shell shocked and reeling Da Silva again fired in a shot come cross which Friend got something on and Paterson reacted quickly to firing the rebound back in only for Downing to throw himself in its path and have it ricocheted off the back of his head to go out for a corner. That should have been 2-0 but we rode the storm or at least we did until just a few minutes before half time when Diedhiou slipped Weimann through who played in Paterson whose shot was again blocked miraculously by Darren Randolph’s outstretched arm when it looked nailed on to go in. Not giving up Assombalonga had another weak effort and then Howson had another shot saved but those early misses looked as though they were going to be very costly as the half time whistle went to a chorus of boos directed at the Boro dug out. This was not helped by the away fans regaling in a continual chorus reminding Tony Pulis just how insufferable his football style was albeit in a vocabulary more suited to the Bristol Docks.
The half time Riverside atmosphere was similar to the lull before the Storm when it suddenly goes quiet just before the very worst happens. The home fans had been split all evening there were fans chanting “come on Boro” whilst others to the same tune were openly suggesting that Mr Pulis should consider an exit strategy although not quite as tactful as my terminology. Being honest I thought there was commendable restraint from the home support but that boil was going to be lanced at some point if we didn’t get back into this. The teams took the field for the second half with the hobbling Wiemann (Flinty lost a few of his studs in the back of his boot midway through the first half) off for Smith.
I don’t know what was said during the half time team talk but it must have been similar to Theresa May suggesting another vote on her plan to the Cabinet this afternoon. Boro came out all fired down. They just didn’t seem up for it, as though they accepted they were second best and that all thought of recovery was futile. A Free kick just outside the box saw something of a rarity indeed even something we thought off on the brink of extinction, a well worked and clever free kick. Mikel wondered over raising the question what the heck was he going to do and then Howson slipped the ball to Downing who chipped it to where Britt was running to on the edge of the six yard box but his effort was well saved by O’Leary. With just seven minutes into the half Shotton was taken off for Wing with Howson going to RB. That substitution presumably was for the knee injury that he was carrying, well at least that and the fact that his ball control looked like he had been coached by Rudy Gestede all evening.
It didn’t work and in fact it just muddied the waters down the right flank, Wing and Howson tried to create something but it was overplayed and overpassed in too many non-descript areas and often losing possession as a consequence. O’Leary was called into service again to deal with a Fletcher header and then on sixty minutes Howson started a Forrest Gump style run and just kept on going until he realised he was running out of options and rather than pass to Wing who was far too close to him decided to take a pot shot himself only to see it go past the far post missing by about a foot.
The high point of the evening came when Bristol were wanting to take a throw in and were looking for “the Towel” which had disappeared from that end at half time. The Ref went to the Technical area to deal with a little difference of opinion whilst Mo Besic ran out and threw a Towel at a Bristol Player. The overly generous nature of Mo’s gesture or perhaps the manner of it started an almighty handbag session the like of which I haven’t witnessed since a Black Friday sale on North Ormesby Market where even the regulars at the Jovial Monk were seen running for cover from the day tripping pensioners. There was lavender and primrose oil everywhere and Lily of the Valley just didn’t seem the same any more. Any way when it settled Marlon Pack received a yellow for his troubles but it did at least get the Riverside roaring momentarily and you had the feeling that it may just backfire on Lee Johnson as the hitherto library atmosphere was now a cauldron of passion from the terraces.
Four minutes later that noise soon abated when the diminutive Da Silva played in freshly booked Pack who done an even better impression of Britt Assombalonga than Britt himself when with the goal at his mercy he fired well wide. At the other end Flinty was cursing his luck as he went down in the Bristol box trying to reach a Saville cross with the North Stand protesting almost as desperately and believe me things were very desperate at this stage.
Once again the contrast in styles at the Riverside was marked, fast free flowing attacking football running at defenders with the ball at feet versus to you, to me, recycling rubbish needing three steps and a slow down to pick out the nearest red shirted statue. It was like being at Eston Sports Centre and an over 50’s walking football tournament only not quite as slick. So just when we really needed a bit of speed and energy and perhaps even our highest scoring midfielder TP brings on Hugill and Besic whilst taking off Downing and Saville. So now we had three Strikers up top as Tony entered diarrhoea tactics (as oppose to the type them lot from Brizzle were entertaining themselves with by singing all evening). Maybe it was just me being lost in the moment trying to figure out why you would bring on a circular running midfielder and take off the only remaining wide player who can at least put decent crosses into a box now habited by three, yes sits down in amazement, three Boro Strikers?
It did seem however that Fletcher was now sitting deeper (or wandering desperate to get a pass) so in part that meant that we did still have two strikers, well one who hadn’t yet missed his prerequisite number of sitters to record a goal and a WWE wrestler masquerading as Footballer. In between behaving like an errant ten pin bowling ball in the skittle like Bristol defence Hugill did manage to get a semi volleyed boot onto a last second chance that went wide to a unified backdrop of both sets of fans agreeing at full voice that Tony Pulis’s football is indeed very reminiscent of faecal matter. I did however hear one of the cleaners on the way out take umbrage to the impromptu singalong complaining that what they cleaned didn’t stink the place out that badly.
And so there it is, five defeats in a row and the worst run for a very long time, I did hear someone say on the way out that its something like twenty years but that may have been just how long it feels like TP has been here.