Boro Keep The Pressure On At The Top

Middlesbrough    2        Rotherham    0

                     Tomlin  49  Bamford  66

 

 

It was the calm before the storm as Middlesbrough recorded their fifth straight victory at the Riverside Stadium. They beat relegation threatened Rotherham by 2 goals to 0 on a sunlit but chilly afternoon; in all honesty they were expected to and had to if they wanted to keep alive their hopes of automatic promotion.  

Lee Tomlin opens the scoring for Boro

Goals from Lee Tomlin and Patrick Bamford meant Aitor Karanka’s men stayed fourth in the table with four games left to play, on Tuesday night they’re back on home turf to face eighth place Wolves, before a tasty looking trip to third place Norwich on Friday evening rounds off another pivotal week.

As for this afternoon’s event’s it wasn’t a classic, far from it but Boro got the job done. They may not have moved up the table or back into one of the automatic promotion spots, but at least behind them results went their way and without any calamities they should finish in the play offs due to their seven point buffer over seventh place Brentford.

Leaders Bournemouth are still only two points better off than Karanka’s side with Norwich and Watford sandwiched in between, after a weekend where the top four teams all triumphed.

Out of the four it’s Boro’s goal difference which is inferior to the rest, with more adventure they could have added more goals here and after a frustrating first half, thankfully for the 19,000 home fans the hosts finally clicked into gear.

There were alterations from the side which lost at Watford on Easter Monday; the most notable one was a recall for Spanish striker Kike, whose inclusion meant top scorer Bamford was moved out to the right where the Chelsea loanee was fairly ineffective for most of the game.

It may be the lack of fire power upfront which eventually costs Karanka and his team, especially in the bigger games, however at the back they are the sternest in the league. That is in no small part down to imposing centre back Daniel Ayala who returned from an ongoing injury to put in a dominant defensive display alongside Ben Gibson at the back.

Boro’s other changes saw Tomas Kalas and Adam Forshaw come in as Fernando Amorebieta and Jonathan Woodgate dropped to the bench while Dwight Tiendalli, Adam Reach and the suspended Grant Leadbitter missed out altogether.

Rotherham manager Steve Evans made two alterations after beating Brighton on Monday, as Jordan Bowery and former Boro loanee Adam Hammill came in. Ex-Boro midfielder Richard Smallwood was also included and received a warm reception from the home fans before kick-off.

They didn’t have much more to cheer about in a first half which served up few goal scoring opportunities. With nine minutes gone Ayala tried an audacious overhead kick after a half cleared set piece however Rotherham keeper Emiliano Martínez saved comfortably. Minutes later stand in captain George Friend slipped a pass through to Bamford on the left however the strikers cut back across goal missed a finishing touch.

The hosts may have dominated possession but Rotherham’s defensive set up with two banks of four was proving difficult to break down and Martínez was rarely tested. The same could be said for Boro keeper Dimi Konstantopulos who was all but a spectator at the other end, the next chance fell to Albert Adomah however he couldn’t hit the target when Kike picked him out on the left.

Boro finally cranked up the pressure after half an hour when Adam Clayton’s corner was turned goal bound and had to be parried off the line by Martínez. The Rotherham keeper was called upon again, twice denying Adomah from distance in quick succession after a Boro corner. The clearest chance came eight minutes from the break when Kike squared the ball to Adomah after a neat Boro move, however the Ghanaian winger failed to make significant contact and the ball was scrambled to safety.

Four minutes after the restart Boro’s vast possession was finally rewarded and some wary Rotherham legs may have been a factor. Lee Tomlin, who had been anonymous, for most of the first half received the ball on the edge of the Rotherham penalty area and with defenders in front of him he skipped into the box where space opened up allowing him to slot a shot low into the bottom right corner.

There were chances for a second, Kike headed Kalas’ cross over the bar before the striker had a shot blocked by defender Kirk Broadfoot, but it wasn’t until the 66^th minute when Boro finally put the game beyond any doubt.

Scorer of the first, Tomlin again showed just what he brings to the side as he drove into the Rotherham box, on arrival and under pressure he knocked the ball back to Bamford who side footed the ball low beyond Martínez. The points were as good as safe.

Rotherham, still not mathematically safe from relegation, only briefly threatened when Hammil and Lee Frecklington tried their luck from range but both failed to hit the target.  Boro had a golden chance to add a third when Kike won a penalty late on, but after some debate about who should take it, Martínez made a low save to his right to deny Bamford.

It didn’t matter as Boro kept up the pressure on the top three in the race for promotion.

Player Ratings  

Dimi Konatantopulos   6- Was a spectator for most of the game

Tomas Kalas   7- Battled hard on the right hand side wasn’t afraid to make a challenge

Daniel Ayala   7- Dominated at the back and won everything in the air

Ben Gibson   6.5- Swept up the danger in defence

George Friend   6- Got in to some attacking positions but final ball let him down

Albert Adomah   6.5- A bit sloppy in possession but produced some decent attacking moves

Adam Clayton   6.5 Took a while for him and Forshaw to get to grips with each other, in the end sat deep and broke up play

Adam Forshaw   6- Slow start but improved gradually    

Patrick Bamford   6- Was on the fringes of proceedings until his goal

Lee Tomlin   7- Frustrating at times but ultimately produced two match winning moments

Kike   6- Struggled to hold the ball up long enough to receive support

Subs

Jonathan Woodgate   6- Replaced Ayala with 20 minutes to go

Emilo Nsue – Only on for the last few minutes, not enough time to give a fair rating

Dean Whitehead - Only on for the last few minutes, not enough time to give a fair rating

My Boro Man Of The Match: Daniel Ayala