| Middlesbrough | Stoke City | ||
| Assombalonga | 2′ | ||
| Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
37% 7 2 2 12 |
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
63% 14 1 10 8 |
Early Bird Britt collects the points
Ex Hatters Boss Nathan Jones had brought one of TP’s former sides to the Riverside for the first time since the opening day of our ill-fated Premiership dalliance a few seasons back. Judging how its supremely likely that Nathan Jones will now be facing his former club next season in the Championship he must have wondered at times what he has let himself in for. A club supposedly saddled with disaffected “Premiership Players” indignant at where they now find themselves of which the irony is likely lost being that it was themselves that has brought them to this juncture. Such dressing room prima donna drama is something that we are now well rid of, almost as quickly in fact as it was hastily assembled way back then before the last visit of the Potters. For Stoke their relegation hangover continues as Championship life now becomes a reality.
From pre-season favourites to a sad and sorry looking dejected bunch Boro were hoping that the Potters miserable season continued as we now looked to make it three defeats on the trot for them whilst building the same number of wins on the trot for ourselves. The likelihood of that seemed very diminished yesterday when it was announced that not only Friend and Wingy were out but Ayala was finished for the season as well. The bombshell however was that Dael Fry had torn a hamstring in training and would also miss the rest of the season. Defensively that left Flint and Shotton as the only two recognised defenders standing.
TP’s line-up conundrum was solved with a back three of McNair as right sided Centre Back with Shotton going over to the left and Flint Central. Howson and Saville were the wing backs with Clayts and Mikel doing the dirty work, Besic providing the thrills and spills and Fletcher and Britt up top. Nathan Jones gave seventeen-year-old youngster Nathan Collins a debut coming in for the injured Shawcross. Jack Butland was on paternity duty with Federici taking his place between the posts. Mikel was captaining Boro and Danny Batth was captaining Stoke resplendently adorned in “Perple” on his return, so befitting for a Good Friday.
The match started a bit messy with both sides struggling to calm themselves via a lot of misplaced passes. A poor clearance out from Federici was pounced upon by Besic as he had done against Hull, fed Mikel who splayed the ball out wide immediately to Howson who hit a first time cross across the six-yard box for Assombalonga to get a left boot to it deflecting it in from close range. The lack of judging and decision-making time had again seemingly working in Britt’s favour. Two minutes gone and 1-0 up was as good a start as Boro would have dared hoped for. The early mid-day kick off between Bristol and Reading ended in a draw so the goal had effectively put Boro back into the play-offs.
What ensued wasn’t the prettiest game of football but Boro put in a solid display for the remaining 87 minutes. We hadn’t beaten Stoke at the Riverside since 2008 so there was always a niggle that this wouldn’t end with Boro keeping a clean sheet despite Stoke’s woeful scoring record this season. After the restart they came straight back at Boro and applied pressure. Afobe was giving Shotton a busy afternoon but in fairness Ryan coped and mastered the ex Wolves striker pretty well for most of the half but Afobe did have a first half header on twenty minutes go wide with Shotton losing the flight of the ball in the warm spring sunshine beaming over the West Stand. Flint was solid if unspectacular but won everything in the air whilst McNair looked very composed and comfortable, reading the game exceptionally well and cutting out any sniff of a threat down the right from boo boy McClean. So far the makeshift defensive trio looked the business with no cause for alarm.
It was easy to see why Stoke are in the position they are in the league as despite taking the game to us and winning a few corners there was little to no real threat on Randolph’s goal. The three CB’s were doing their job and Howson was busy bringing the ball out and setting up attacks. JOM was back to his imperious best while Besic was beavering away chasing everything like a demented Terrier, running in circles as ever but also the main instigator of creativity from Boro. Up front Britt was battling but was being battered and struggled to hold up play or more accurately get the rub of the green from Ref Darren Bond. It seemed a very biased whistle from the man in black as any time Britt responded with equal force, he was penalised yet when he was being pushed over or manhandled the offence was ignored. Fletcher was having a poor game after a run of decent performances. He was weak in possession and struggled to impose himself with his highlight being a turn and swivelled shot that went well over. That attempt did at least lift the quiet, nervy atmosphere in the Riverside, kept alive only by the solemn beat of the South Stand drummer.
As predicted Saville was struggling again in the left back role and a bit of dithering from him allowed Edwards to get in a cross necessitating Flint to get his head to the end of it conceding a corner in the process. Boro were having some forays of their own with JOM getting a long-distance effort in and McNair dribbling the ball out of defence and kept going unleashing a long range shot of his own that went wide of Federici’s goal. The end effort wasn’t great but it was a mark of confidence and an indication that he was settling nicely into the new role and confidence levels growing. Its hard to realise sometimes that Paddy is only a few weeks off his 24th birthday.
North Stand hearts were in mouths as Mikel tapped the ball off the toe of Clucas in the Boro box as he theatrically fell over pleading for a penalty. It was one of the few decisions that went Boro’s way from Bond all afternoon but a massive one that would have taken the air out of the Boro balloon and could have ended play off hopes with it because as solid as we were defensively, we didn’t really look like adding to that early Assombalonga goal. It was a bizarre game because despite not looking like adding to our solitary cushion Randolph hadn’t been seriously tested and most of his involvement consisted of collecting long over-hit Stoke balls and routine back passes.
The final five minutes of the first half ended with a McClean shot going well wide and a Vokes effort that was delivered in by McClean but as was the standard for the afternoon, headed wide. Nothing to get too worried about but equally nothing to get too excited about either. There was a generous round of applause as the players left the pitch, the result being more emotionally important than the quality on display.
No changes at half time from either Manager as the teams ran out for the second half. Boro needed to step up a gear in this half as although Howson had looked lively and Besic buzzing in the first there was little end product apart from that early surprise goal to inspire the home fans. Easier said than done as what followed was literally cut and paste from the Hull game. Sit back, absorb pressure and hang on to a solitary goal in the hope of a break out or a set piece.
Speaking of set pieces Besic sent in a free kick that was met by Shotton in the opening few minutes but yet again it was well over. A minute later and that man Afobe repeated Shotton’s miss with a header of his own that was well wide of the intended target. The chances were nowhere near as clear cut as those missed by both sides in the Hull game but an independent observer may have remarked on how few goals both of these sides have scored all season. Their combined “Goals For” was Brit’s one goal opener more than Norwich had scored this season who weren’t playing until later this evening.
Stoke definitely had all the momentum but they never really looked like they could cause us any pain. A Clucas effort was then hit well over as if to emphasise just how poor the finishing was for both of these sides this season. Approaching twenty minutes into the half and Downing was being warmed up. Strangely it was Mo Besic who was taken off again in similar circumstances to the Hull game. Our liveliest and most creative player was now off with Downing going to left wing back and Saville restored to a more comfortable and familiar role in midfield.
That substitution almost immediately added better balance to Boro and also another outlet with Downing emulating that other George, Friend getting down the flank providing some width and a serious threat to Stoke that they now had to keep an eye on. Saville also looked far more comfortable left midfield and linked up well with Stewy now putting some real pressure on the visitor’s defence. Defensively however Stewy was getting back and doing the necessary to keep that clean sheet, fully prepared to do the mundane stuff and even winning a few balls and playing us out of trouble at the back.
Stoke did have Boro penned back for large parts of the half but tactically that looked to be more a game plan on Pulis’s part rather than the quality that was sorely lacking from the “Perple sherts”. There were a few positive Boro moments, Clayts played a ball in to Saville who glanced a header wide and Fletcher had probably the best chance of the half but hit a weak low shot from outside the box straight at Federici for a routine kneel down and scoop. That was the last bit of action for Fletch as Tav came on for him to add some much needed energy up top as Britt had battled vainly but opportunistic goal aside without much joy and Fletch had just had a bad day at the Office.
Ten minutes later Hugill then came on for Britt to provide another outlet which he did really well by beating the Stoke defenders to the ball by pushing Batth and co., shoving back at them, giving them a taste of their own medicine, something which suited his style perfectly. In fairness he stayed on his feet and was the perfect Sub under the circumstances. enabling to take the pressure off a little, chasing and harrying the Stoke backline giving them something else to worry about and in doing so it brought Tav more into the game.
Stoke with their season already effectively over were playing for pride and their vocal following. They had me and several others watching through our fingers as a Corner ended with the ball bouncing in and out and around the Boro box eventually ending with Randolph bravely diving down amidst a flurry of feet winning a free kick to relieve the pressure. A draw would mean nothing to Stoke but a win meant everything to Boro with Bristol dropping two points earlier in the day. With the game now in its dying embers a Clayton challenge on Clucas half way between the Boro box and the touchline ended with a series of pushes and shoves as Darren Bond seemed somewhat detached not for the first time to what was going on in front of him.
With handbags packed away and calm finally restored Boro managed to clear their lines from the resultant kick for Downing and Hugill to eat up some of the four added minutes near the Stoke corner flag in the North West corner. Just as the ball was about to be cleared up field by Federici the whistle went and all three points belonged to Boro. Despite a very uncomfortable second half we had held on and earned the win the hard way. It wasn’t pretty nor was it entertaining for the most part but its points on the board that count now if Boro are to retain any hope of making the play-offs.
MOM was McNair, it was his best game for Boro and he actually looked to be worth every penny paid for him last summer. Not his preferred role it has to be said but his composure and timing was impressive and we just hope that he still has something left in the tank for Monday after being out of the picture for so long. Mikel was back to his best, Howson had another good game as right wing back and Besic looked up for the challenged before being subbed. Shotton done well considering he was on the left but McNair just caught the eye and for all the right reasons. Maybe knowing he has a real opportunity of a run in the side gave him that extra edge of encouragement, who knows but he looked the most accomplished I’ve seen him play in a Boro shirt.