Middlesbrough 1 Millwall 2
Main 75 Friend (og) 25 Woolford 39
When Middlesbrough went nine games unbeaten through October and November it seemed they couldn’t put a foot wrong “the best team in the Championship” said some.
Back then a home tie against Millwall would have been a routine victory, fortunately for them the Boro side since January has been a mere shadow of the one before New Year.
 |
| The frustration goes on for Boro boss Tony Mowbray |
A 2-1 victory more than flattered Kenny Jacket’s side who entered the match off the back of five successive league defeats, and spent a large majority of it on the back foot. Yet Boro lacked a sense of ambition against a team of this stature, whose mood was rock bottom, really they were there for the taking.
The never ending injury problems have forced Tony Mowbray to chop and change his squad over the past week; however the starting eleven only showed two changes from the side which drew 0-0 with Burnley in mid-week. Richard Smallwood and Andy Halliday dropped out and replaced by Curtis Main and Kieron Dyer. Millwall made five changes from the side that was embarrassedly thrashed 5-1 at home to Peterborough.
Boro retained the early possession, but after a couple of minutes it became clear that they were playing with no apparent wingers. Captain Rhys Williams along with Grant Leadbitter and Josh McEachran sat deep in midfield; the trio had only recorded one goal between them all season.
Passes from the hosts continuously went sideways or back, partly due to Millwall’s defensive set up, but let’s not forget that this was a side that had lost their last five and previously conceded five to the team bottom of the league. Boro weren’t exactly cutting them open.
The visitors had barley entered the Boro half in the opening twenty five minutes, but that soon changed in the most unforgiving fashion. After winning free kick deep inside the Boro half Millwall’s James Hendry whipped a teasing ball into the heart of the penalty area where several heads failed to make contact, until George Friend made an unfortunate connection steering the ball past his own keeper.
Even before the goal the atmosphere was subdued, Boro had failed to test Millwall keeper David Forde. Leadbitter then flashed a long range effort wide before Friend’s cross was unconvincingly dropped by Forde, fortunately for the visitors the ball didn’t drop to any Boro players and was cleared.
Just when it looked as like Boro had steadied themselves, they suddenly had a mountain to climb. Leadbitter lost possession in the opposition half and Millwall were quick to counter.
Benik Afobe received the ball before he burst through the Boro defence leaving Andre Bikey and Friend for dead, his shot was well saved by Jason Steele but the Boro keeper could only parry the ball into the path of Martyn Woolford who tucked the ball away and doubled the Lions lead.
At half time Mowbray made a double substitution, as Dyer and Williams made way for the more offensive Ishmael Miller and Mustapha Carayol.
After the break Boro appeared to have more purpose about them. On the left Friend was beginning to cause more problems for the opposition.
The full back’s first intervention was a low cross which found Carayol at the far post, the winger cut inside onto his favoured left foot bringing a decent save from Forde low to his left.
Boro continued to push forward, but in doing so left spaces at the back. Afobe, who was Millwall’s only real threat, made another menacing run into the Boro box, but dragged his shot across goal with no team mates to finish the move.
With fifteen minutes to go Boro’s pressure finally brought a reward. Once again Friend bombed forward down the left, his cross eluded the keeper and fell on a plate for Main who tapped the ball into an empty net from unmissable range.
That sparked some belief back into the stadium, setting up a tense finish, where the momentum was firmly with Boro. Millwall, desperate to hang on, did their best to slow down proceedings. Constant time wasting, mostly from keeper Forde, went unpunished as the referee began to lose control of the game.
The closing minutes were all one way traffic, with Boro desperately hoping for one last chance. If Mowbray could have picked one player for that chance to fall to, Curtis Main would have probably been top of the list. With five minutes to go the ball dropped to the young forward inside the penalty area, but this time he fired his volley wide.
There was still time for some late controversy with the last kick of the game. Boro thought they had snatched a last gasp equaliser when Carayol’s cross from the left was flicked past the keeper by substitute Scott McDonald. With the booming goal music, the fans launched out of their seats only for celebrations to be cut short by the linesman’s flag waved rightly for offside.
This was a game where on paper Boro should have walked away with the points against a side with little quality on a bad run of form. The result sees Mowbray’s side drop out of the top six for the first time since October. Four points out of a possible twenty four since the turn of the year means the alarm bells are starting to ring with the promotion dream ever fading.
Boro now turn their attention to the FA cup a rare glamour tie with European champions Chelsea could either turn a repelling tide or end in an embarrassing disaster, in a hunt to rediscover the early season form.
Player Ratings
Jason Steele 6.5- Not much to do and couldn’t do much about either goal
George Friend 7- Threat going forward in second half, unfortunate to concede own goal
Steven McManus 7- Solid when called upon at centre half on first home appearance of the season
Andre Bikey 6.5- Struggled with pace of Afobe, tried to erg team forward in second half
Nicky Bailey 6.5- Adapted well to unfamiliar position of right back
Rhys Williams (C) 5- Replaced at half time, struggled to have a big impact on the game in midfield
Josh McEachran 5.5- Took up deep role in midfield, began to move forward in second half where he was more effective
Grant Leadbitter 5.5- Numerous corner’s were caught by the goal keeper, turned down chances to shoot
Kieron Dyer 5- Also replaced at half time never looked like troubling the height of Shitu and Osborne at the back
Marvin Emnes 6- Tried to get involved but was given little to feed off
Curtis Main 7- Another hard working performance rewarded with a goal, had a chance to equalise though
Subs
Mustapha Carayol 6- Probably should have started the game pace added width and pace in second half
Ishmael Miller 6- Another who may have expected to started gave a physical presence against the towering centre backs
Scott McDonald 6- Great to see him back from injury, worked hard after coming on unlucky to have last minute goal ruled out
My Boro Man Of The Match George Friend
No comments:
Post a Comment