| Pos. 13th (9 pts) | SATURDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 2019 | Pos. 17th (7 pts) | ||
| Boro | 1-0 | Reading | ||
| Johnson (60) | 41% 10(2) 5 12 |
POSSESSION SHOTS (on target) CORNERS FOULS |
59% 18(7) 10 17 |
|
Marvelousimo Marvinho!
Normal service resumed this afternoon after the International break as Boro entertained Reading at the Riverside. Earlier in the week we learned that George Friend and Jonny Howson required surgery to aide their recoveries whilst Ayala and Coulson were unknowns as regarding their fitness or availability for today’s encounter. Rudy Gestede was also missing after being called up by Benin during the break and somehow managed to injure himself again without kicking a ball in anger. Howson and Ayala would be massive concerns whilst Friend and Coulson’s worries were hopefully mitigated in part by the availability of Bola to stake another claim for the LB role.
Boro fans would get a chance to see “what they could have won” with rumoured summer target Puscas appearing at the Riverside in a Reading shirt. Jose Gomes sprung a surprise with three changes from their last outing and had his big guns, Puscas, Pele and Joao on the bench. Asa boy I’d always dreamed of seeing Puskas and Pele at the Riverside and I guess this was as close as it would ever get, thankfully they weren’t starting!
Woodgate went with the same again as started down at Bristol with the surprise omission being fit again Ayala on the bench when most of us thought he would walk straight back in. The message I guess is that if you do well enough you keep your place which is a good ethos to keep players on their toes and pressure for starting places.
Boro got proceedings underway in the balmy but breezy 20 degrees September Riverside sunshine. Alost immediately Boro were on the attack with a Marvin Johnson cross just evading the advancing Fletcher, next up was McNair feeding Fletcher with his effort deflected going out for an early Boro corner in the opening five minutes. Reading then tested Boro’s resolve with Boye and Meite who were to be a handful all afternoon showing plenty of aggression, skill and determination.
Yakou Meite had Shotton taking one for the team in blocking a smash and then a minute later needed Randolph to smother a shot from the bustling Ghanaian international in an end to end pulsating start. Yiadom was bettering Bola and his cross was met by Moore whose effort went wide. The Royals were getting a grip of the game, constantly closing Boro down, defending from the front and not letting Boro set up their gameplay by passing out from the back. Indeed, Boro were now getting themselves into difficulty by passing themselves into trouble and losing possession repeatedly. Meanwhile Bola was really struggling and at times it was questionable if he was actually disinterested or just simply out of his depth at this level.
The tempo dipped after the opening twenty minutes but Reading looked by far the more likely to take the lead. They had Boye being aggressive and nasty when needed. Meite was a huge unit that tested Shotton who it has to be said was very adept at handling him and stinking to his task along with Fry but Bola still hadn’t got to grips with his opponent and we were looking extremely frail and vulnerable on that side of the pitch. Dijksteel on the opposite side was looking solid and strong and even had some fancy footwork to boot. The home fans held a round of applause on the appropriate minute for Boro fan Jamie Reed who had sadly passed away unexpectedly during the week at the tender age of thirty three.
The Red Faction sent a message to the EFL courtesy of three banners which questioned their fitness for purpose which was spontaneously applauded around four sides of the Stadium along with a chant that was less than complimentary towards those in suits who effectively have literally cheaply sold the English game outside of the Premiership down the river although the Teessider’s explanation was more Anglo Saxon in its delivery. Out on the pitch Swift had an effort for the Visitors but Randolph was equal to it and meanwhile McIntyre’s late challenge on McNair didn’t raise too many laughs as he entered the Ref’s book.
Meite came close to opening the scoring after a Yiadom cross, Bola then charged forward, tripped over himself and passed the ball as he lost control straight to a Navy-blue Reading shirt (what was wrong with Blue and White hoops?) almost gifting the Royals a gilt edged opportunity requiring a mad panic in the Boro back line somehow scrappily getting the ball away to safety. McNair as he has so often this season led the charge for Boro as he tested Brazilian Keeper Cabral after a Brazil style run saw him take on the entire Royals defence, darted and weaved past three or four defenders to draw a save out of the Keeper. The ever menacing Meite appeared to have been “earmarked” by an outstretched Clayton arm. The Visitors bench seemed to explode in overt outrage as they sought to make their dominance count, earning a card for a member of their Coaching staff as the first half was now petering out for Boro somewhat ignominiously.
Marvin Johnson was pinging Souness style balls forward and into the middle for Fletcher and Assombalonga to latch onto all half and one such ball teased Britt but his run was just too late and the game immediately swung down the opposite end as Moore fed in that man Meite agai and just as he was about to pull the trigger from the six yard box on the defenceless Randolph, Fry slid in from nowhere, hooked the ball from under him and cleared the danger. Boye then entered the Refs book after another of his South American style challenges was considered one too many and just as the half came to a close Fletcher had an effort that was blocked by McIntyre to keep the scores level.
The first half ended with pulsating action just as it had started, there was a quiet almost confused and dysfunctional twenty minute filler in the sandwich from a Boro perspective and away fans would have considered themselves unlucky not to be ahead but at least the game was far from boring even if things were less than ideal from a Boro perspective at the midway stage.
Both sides came out for the second half unchanged. Reading started the half but it was Boro who started the more lively and just two minutes in had the ball in the net after a cross from a Wing taken Free Kick was knocked across the goalmouth courtesy of Fry with Fletcher and Assombalonga closing in but as the ball hit the net the assistant running the East Stand touchline had his flag up for Offside. Biased I may be but from my seat in the North Stand they looked to me to be running in with the ball in front of them. A seemingly lucky let off and a Royal Pardon if ever there was one!
It was better from Boro, but Reading then nearly went in front requiring a Randolph save to tip away Ejaria’s effort from twenty-five yards out. The resulting corner was cleared down Boro’s right flank and as Johnson was working his magic, he was brought down by Morrison who received a yellow for his troubles. The Free Kick was debated and as Johnson ran away, he returned to put in a low cross which bounced just in front of Cabral, Fletcher’s run across him seemingly unnerved him and the ball spun past into the net to put Boro ahead. We will never know if Marvin intended it but he certainly deserved it as he had played some teasing and inviting balls all afternoon in what is undoubtedly his best spell in a Boro shirt since his arrival.
Five minutes later and Yiadom bravely blocked a ferocious Wing strike in an almost carbon copy of Shotton’s first half block from Meite. The Reading bench had seen enough and some changes were in the offing. On came Lucas Joao to replace McIntyre and Rinomhota was replaced by George Puscas. That was it, the gloves were off and no more messing as Reading were clearly going to throw everything at Boro. Two minutes later Woodgate responded by withdrawing the ineffective Bola and putting on Ayala to go with three/five at the back to counter the big guns of the expensively assembled Reading attack with Marvin dropped in at Left Back.
The game now entered into a new phase as the Visitors were throwing Kitchen Sinks and everything else they could muster at Boro’s Pulis/Karanka looking back line. It wasn’t all one way as Johnson brought out another save from Cabral and a tasty Clayton ball into the box was destined for Ayala coming in at the far post to head home but Britt popped up, got under it and his attempt hit the side netting. With just under twenty minutes remaining Boye tested Randolph again requiring a palmed save to keep the slender Boro advantage intact.
McNair then went on a run, driving through the middle and hit a shot that went just wide of Cabral’s upright as Assombalonga was upset, wanting it played in as he ran through in front of him. Next up was former Chelsea lad and their set piece specialist Swift who had an effort go just wide as the Riverside temperature was artificially rising. It was Swift again who fired in a central Free Kick from twenty yards out that cleared the Boro wall, dipping down and Randolph instinctively just tipped over.
Boye then came off for Loader with the Royals sensing they could not unreasonably get something from this game. Omar Richards chased to the by line, crossed to Puscas but the big Romanian fired over from inside the eighteen-yard box. Bums definitely do not get any squeakier than this. It was relentless, Shotton, Fry, Ayala and Randolph were frantically batting, swatting, hitting, punching and heading everything and anything that came into the box from all sorts of angles and trajectories.
Joao then sealed the draw until Randolph done the impossible, he rose from the dead to stretch across the goal mouth and palm it wide. As the resultant corner came in from Swift, Moore rose to head it into the top corner only for Randolph to incredibly and ridiculously fly across his goalmouth like a circus acrobat tipping it over in what from the North Stand looked like a slow-motion bullet dodging, freeze frame out take from the Matrix.
The fourth Official held up five agonising minutes as Johnson came off to a thoroughly deserved standing ovation from all around the Riverside for Tav to come on; no doubt with instructions to stretch the Royals where and when he could and creatively run the clock down. Another Richards cross was met by Joao again but fortunately his effort this time went harmlessly wide. The ball was cleared upfield, Britt chased, held the ball up wide on the East Stand touchline and when the “invited” foul came with mere seconds remaining there was a huge chorus of “do, do, do, Britt Assombalonga” much to his astonishment at least judging by the surprised look on his face. The home support was bouncing, willing their side on towards to the final whistle.
The resultant free kick was played by Saville (who had come on for Wing just before Tav’s arrival) to Britt to kill the game off. It ended seconds later 1-0. There were some average performances out there but there were also some stalwart ones namely from Shotton, Clayton, Fry, Ayala, Johnson and of course inevitably McNair. Despite all that without the agility and incredulous saves from Randolph we could have been looking at nil points let alone all three! Four games undefeated and whilst its too early for any indicators somewhere in all that we saw a resolute five man defensive wall holding on resolutely whilst showing attacking endeavour at the opposite end.