| os. 18th (24 pts) | FRIDAY 20 DECEMBER 2019 | Pos. 22nd (18 pts) | ||
| Boro | 2-1 | Stoke | ||
| Fletcher (57) Wing (71) |
41% 7(4) 4 15 |
POSSESSION SHOTS (on target) CORNERS FOULS |
59% 12(3) 2 15 |
Clucas (53) |
From Red bull to Wing
After speaking yesterday to an old friend who is a Stoke season ticket holder it had me less than looking forward to this one. The woes he spoke of down in the Potteries were almost as bad as the suffering we have endured this season. He told me he wouldn’t be making the trip up North because his appetite for watching dross was at saturation point and watching a double helping of it was more than he could stomach. Have to agree that I couldn’t argue with his logic. What was sad though was he said he “might catch it on the box” having now lost the will to avidly follow the club he had been with for almost four decades.
Two clubs with similar plights, well intentioned owners but somehow, somewhere things came badly off the rails. For some reason Sky thought that in footballing terms providing a match of Ebenezer Scrooge proportions was fitting in the build up to the festive season. Or perhaps they figured get the worst one out of the way and by comparison the rest will seem great!
Unfortunately for Stoke their Manager was ill with the dreaded flu virus that seems to have wiped out half the nation. With that in mind their preparation and stuttering recovery since his appointment may be curtailed giving Boro a slight edge although the Bookies didn’t seem to think so. That Swansea feeling was like a flu virus in itself hanging over the club all week prolonged by the faint hope that McNair’s sending off might somehow be rescinded, then again maybe more adults believe in Santa Claus than I thought.
There were hopes that Britt might be fit again to lead the line and the likelihood was that Lewis Wing would return after a brief respite to replace McNair with the defensive midfield duties being left with Clayts. With McClean and Ince likely to be plying their trade down the flanks that would pose a question mark as to whether Djed Spence would be risked or conversely his speed and threat may negate some of the opposing threat. Michael O’Neill had a right-back selection headache himself having juggled the position between a few players since his arrival with no strong claimants.
A miserable, wet and two thirds empty Riverside light show greeted the hardy few who turned up hopefully none of whom suffered epilepsy problems. Team news saw the experience of Tommy Smith given the RB shirt for Stoke tonight with Djed Spence restored in the same role for Boro. No Britt again giving young Stephen Walker his first start with Gestede on the bench along with Wing and Johnson. George Saville replaced his fellow countryman in the middle. Danny Batth was making a return to the Riverside and how we could do with him right now.
Oliver Langford’s whistle got proceedings underway as Boro kicked off with six academy players in the line-up. A curling Tom Ince effort cutting into the Boro Box required Dael Fry to get a head on it to put it out for a corner in the opening minutes which was slowly cleared but the visitors kept the pressure up as Boro struggled to get the ball out of their own half with Ince the catalyst for Stoke’s early possession stats. A fifth minute ball through for Walker to run onto was overhit but was somehow irrelevant as the crowd provided a poignant tribute to Leo Percovich two years on from the tragedy that cost him the lives of his two daughters.
A seventh minute free kick for a foul on Howson near the dug outs was passed backwards until eventually surrendering possession in what looked like a totally thoughtless set piece. Coulson won a throw-in level with the Stoke 18-yard box but again it was recycled backwards with an eventual aimless punt upfield to the safety of Jack Butland. Stoke were playing with a high backline and pushing Boro back but there were a few signs, albeit overhit ones, that Boro could catch them on the break with Walker in particular testing Batth’s agility. The quarter hour was marked with Boro attacking but once again passing the ball back into their own half only to hoof it up and surrender possession. A crossfield ball to Coulson saw him set Tav up but the ball went backwards again and those moans and groans were now becoming audible.
A free kick to Boro twenty-five yards out was floated in by Tavernier but it went out in the West Stand though in a positive light is was the lower half of the stand to leave Fry, Fletcher and Ayala dumbfounded. A comedic series of back passes played ourselves into trouble (again) but a break from Spence was ended with Ward taking him out (to presumably prevent him from passing it backwards). The free kick for Boro ironically ended by setting Ince away and unleashing a daisy cutter which went wide of Pears upright in the most riveting piece of action so far in the game.
A Stoke free kick was comfortably dealt with in the air by Ayala but we lost the ball again and back came Stoke with twenty five minutes now gone. Boro were making very hard work of things, struggling to get out, relying on long balls and when we did have it fleetingly, we couldn’t hang onto it. Just as it looked like we would buckle it was Butland required to make the games first serious save from Fletcher. The resultant corner was blown up for a foul as Ayala had his arms around Batth’s neck surprisingly for the Spaniard. McClean was getting down our right side and getting away from the attentions of Spence and Howson with growing regularity.
Ten minutes of nothingness ensued and then a back pass to Pears on thirty-five minutes raised another chorus of moans with a few audible boos. A minute later a ball from the wing into Clucas should have saw Pears worked but as two red shirts stood off him the finishing of the Stoke strike force illustrated why they have been almost as woeful as Boro’s all season. A Stoke corner was hit to the far side of the Boro six-yard box which was met but went out feebly for a Boro goal kick. It was an horrendous spectacle to witness inside the miserably cold Stadium but it must have made Sky wonder why on Earth they picked a contest between two equally incompetent and inept clueless sides.
Jonny Howson tried to rescue another sideways ball played into danger ten yards outside of the “D” by Tavernier and earned a yellow for his late lunge. Fortunately, Ince tried a Ronaldo type free kick but with five per cent of the ability as it sailed harmlessly into the North Stand. The son of the ex-Boro midfielder managed a deflected shot a minute later through a packed Boro box with just half a minute of normal time remaining of the half. Ominously Clayts was down on all fours at this time needing some treatment but he was able to walk off and presumably it was only the sight of an attacking move that had him in a temporary state of paralysis. Thankfully the half-time whistle sounded to save our eyes from the horror show out on the pitch as Boro had produced the most ineffective, galling and dreary forty-five minutes of football in my memory of supporting them.
If there was a jury, they would have relegated both teams immediately for the sake of football. It wasn’t even bad or awful it was just pointless with zero skill, technique or tactics on show from either side although it has to be said that at least Stoke looked like they were trying to win it. Anyone considering a half season ticket would at least now be free to think about what else they could spend their Christmas money on. A game of guess the crowd was more of a talking point rather than any dubious refereeing decisions or the missed opportunities during the half time pints. Resigned indifference was rife. A few didn’t retake their seats after the break which was actually a positive because they could and probably should at this stage have vacated them after fifteen minutes.
What Woodgate would say to his players after that was anyone’s guess but the second half surely couldn’t be as bad as that first half footballing equivalent of diazepam.
No change in personnel for either side at the start of the second half but Boro looked to have changed to a back four. On forty-seven minutes a calamitous Stoke attack was only bettered by Boro’s efforts at defending in a very unconvincing manner, cue more boos. A break then by Spence left two Stoke players for dead and after being clattered by McLean we won a corner and then another in quick succession but that was it, all over just as were getting some hope. At least we actually had an attack and the ball did move in a forward trajectory. Obviously buoyed by attacking, Boro mounted another one and a deflected shot by Spence saw a claim for a penalty on Tav by Batth which the Ref waved away.
A long ball out of the Stoke defence down their right saw Dael Fry misjudge the bounce and allowed a cross to come in which was instinctively well saved by Pears with Howson trying to cut out the danger but the ball came out to Clucas who had sprinted from the half-way line leaving his marker Clayton in his wake with the goal at his mercy and couldn’t miss and didn’t. The deadlock was broken and Boro now trailed behind the visitors with the half now seven minutes old.
As Woodgate readied subs a simple lobbed ball from Howson over the back of the Stoke defence saw Fletcher read the intention and ghost in to head home unopposed and there it was 1-1. We were back on level terms out of nowhere. Wing then came on for Clayton and Getsede for Walker (to a chorus of more boos). A penalty claim by Clucas was dismissed as he went down between Howson and Saville earning a yellow for his trouble as the game now suddenly moved into first gear from neutral.
There were of course the predictable and obligatory boos for McClean throughout the game but I wasn’t counting those although the thought did cross my mind about what if McClean had a different skin tone rather than political persuasion, would the Ref be forced to take a different view?
Wing fed in Tav on sixty-two minutes as Boro now looked positively energetic after their setback (or kick up the backside). That quick response equaliser had clearly deflated Stoke’s brittle confidence and the arrival of Wing for Clayton saw a much more forward-thinking Player making an impact. Wing tried a rather adventurous volley on sixty-four minutes but he was under it instead of on top and sent it screaming into the North Stand night sky. O’Neill made a change on sixty-six minutes with McClean limping off and then remaining on the pitch (to more boos) and instead Ward went off for Nick Powell.
On sixty-eight minutes Saville managed to bring the ball out of defence, beat two Stoke players then pirouetted around himself instead of setting Spence free and managing to dispossess himself in a head scratching moment that won’t have impressed either of his two watching Managers. Pears did well to cleanly collect a cross from McClean and quickly setting up an attack by rolling the ball out to Tav who in turn left his marker, ran forwards instinctively finding Wing who took a few strides and then unleashed one of his long awaited rockets. Seventy minutes now gone and the atmosphere inside the Riverside had turned 180 degrees. Livelier, hungrier and sharper Boro now had Stoke reeling and an Ayala header from a free kick needed Butland at his best to prevent Boro from going three up.
Fifteen minutes remaining and O’Neill made a sub with the injured McClean going off for Vokes. As play recommenced Tavernier was dragged back by Smith as he had left Ince for dead with the Stoke defender entering the Ref’s book. Marvin Johnson came on for Spence in an effort to put a little more experience on out there to see the game out. A headed clearance by Fry repelled a Stoke onslaught as they mounted desperate attempt after attempt to pull themselves back into the game. A long cleared ball up to Gestede saw him flick it on but it was just too far for Fletcher to reach with ten minutes now remaining. Saville earned a yellow for dragging Ince back with Coulson caught upfield as the game evolved into defence versus attack.
An unchallenged Joe Allen run across the front of the Boro 18 yard box saw his shot just curling away from the intended target as the South Stand breathed a collective sigh of relief. Batth collided with Tavernier in a 50/50 leaving his mark on Boro’s MOM providing a few minutes breather. Two minutes later Cousins cynically took out Coulson as he caught the midfielder cold with his pace and started to sprint clear. In testimony to how well Coulson had done Ince was then subbed for Diouf as O’Neill threw down his last card with only three agonisingly long minutes remaining. Five minutes came up on the fourth officials board as Fletcher searingly ran back into his box reading Diouf’s cross and cutting out the danger with a determined hoofed clearance which fortuitously but deservedly found Johnson.
Bodies in red were now being thrown at the ball and at Stoke players generally just to hang on to that slender Wing wonder strike. Two minutes of added time remained and Boro were happy to let the ball go out for throw-ins and generally disrupt proceedings. Danny Batth went flying into Dael Fry to concede a foul in the dying seconds and as Pears despatched the resultant free kick down to the opposite end of the pitch the whistle sounded to end what was without doubt a game of two halves. That win was a massive psychological boost to Boro and a huge dent to Stoke with six points now separating the two sides. The second-half change in attitude and intent was nothing short of remarkable especially considering how many Academy products were still out there.
The first half was diabolical, easily and all too readily forgotten about but the second half saw Howson, Ayala and Coulson all put in great performances but for me Tav was the one that tipped it. He was the battler, the threat, the constant niggle and the provider for the winner. That quick equaliser sparked a complete mentality change in Boro who had gone from defeatists to believers in a few seconds. In fairness even Gestede won battles and made a nuisance of himself winning important duels when he came on.
These were two really bad sides but it was all about the result rather than the methodology. The tactical change at half time by Woodgate made a marked difference despite conceding as did the swapping of Clayton for Wing. As the saying goes its always darkest before the dawn and never truer than tonight.