Boro Stun City On Dramatic Cup Day

Manchester City    0        Middlesbrough    2

                                                                                               Bamford  53  Kike  90+3 

 

Aitor Karanka and his players marched over to their 5,500 fans at the full time whistle as heroes, victors, gladiators who had just done battle and returned triumphant.

Patrick Bamford celebrates Boro's opener

They had just done the unthinkable by beating Manchester City, the Premier League Champions, at the Etihad Stadium and now they had the chance to lap up their entitled and hard-earned reward.

In 94 incredible minutes Boro defended like warriors as they shut out the likes of Sergio Aguero and David Silva, two of the most highly rated players in the Premier League, while at the other end they even had chances to add to an impressive 2-0 victory.

Yes the stats will say City had 65% possession and that they spent a majority of the first half camped on the edge of Boro’s penalty area, but even the most diehard City fan couldn’t argue that the best chances fell Boro’s way.

Following Patrick Bamford 53^rd minute opener, which sent the travelling fans ballistic, the visitors could quite easily have scored more. Lee Tomlin’s effort hit the inside of the post, Grant Leadbitter’s shot was blocked off the line and Jelle Vossen’s volley was saved by Willy Caballero.

In contrast City’s chances were not quite so clear cut. For all their intricate passes in and around the opposition penalty area they were, on the whole, reduced to a reel of long range shots which were usually met by a courageous block by a Boro defender or a smart save from keeper Tomas Mejias.

That laid the building blocks for an incredible Boro victory, which was sealed in the third minute of stoppage time when the ball broke to substitute Kike and with only the keeper to beat he slotted the ball home from close range to spark wild celebration in the away end.

The worrying thing for City manager Manual Pellegrini was that barring the goalkeeper, another central defender and the absent Yaya Toure this was arguably City’s strongest team, which should cause concern for the Pellegrini whose side face Chelsea in a decisive Premier League showdown next weekend.      

To be fair to the City manager he made no excuses in his post-match press conference stating that Boro deserved “to go through” and that his side got “nervous” after falling behind.

When asked about the clubs ludicrous decision to take a trip to their training camp in Abu Dhabi and not arrive back until late hours of Friday night, the City manager again refused to make excuses, at least in doing so he prevented a the situation becoming even more farcical than it already was.

Nevertheless take nothing away from Boro whose surge under Karanka is becoming more impressive by the day. They once again lived up to their label as the best defence in the Championship with centre back Ben Gibson and Daniel Ayala making tackle after tackle, block after block, whenever someone was forced out of position there was a teammate on hand to cover.

They were just the backbone, and everyone one of the Boro starting eleven could easily receive equal praise.  Lee Tomlin was the main catalyst in the Boro attack, as he Bamford, Vossen and Adomah caused havoc running at the City defence.

Grant Leadbitter and ex-City youth graduate Adam Clayton produced a shift and a half in the heart of midfield, full backs George Friend and Dean Whitehead stood their ground all game, with Mejias acting as the brink wall in the Boro goal.      

Karanka, the mastermind behind the operation later expressed how he was “proud of the players, the crowd, the fans, the staff and the club” and all must face a reality check with an away trip to Brentford next weekend. Nevertheless with more performances yesterday, trips to places like the Etihad won’t be too far away.