It's The League From Here

Middlesbrough     0          Hull     2     

                                                                                                          McLean  9

                                                                                                          Prozwitchz  60

At times there is a fine line between the Premier League and Championship, especially when it comes to the FA cup. However for the 15,000 present at the Riverside yesterday afternoon that imaginary line between the two divisions will seem very thick indeed.

Boro finished 2013 with a flourish, picking up 10 points out of 12; a cup scalp of Premier League Hull City would have been the icing on the cake.

Nick Prozwitchz seals the game by adding Hull's second

But truth be told Boro never looked like flirting with the romance of a cup upset, they were not only given a firm reality check but a footballing lesson as they meekly bowed out of England’s biggest cup competition.

Hull were patient but thorough as they swept aside a rather bog-standard and disappointing Boro side who offered very little in the attacking third. City manager Steve Bruce appeared to get his tactic spot on, Hull’s five man midfield dominated the game leaving Boro totally overrun in the middle of the park.

The visitors didn’t create many chances but they didn’t need too, there may have been an element of fortune when Aaron McLean latched on to a loose ricochet to convert Hull’s opener after nine minutes, but there could be no complaints about the final result as Nick Prozwitchz added a second 30 minutes from time on an afternoon where Boro were totally outplayed.

Boro boss Aitor Karanka expressed that his side “could do much much better” but remained optimistic revealing that Boro had completed the loan signing of Kenneth Omeruo from Chelsea and that more could follow.  

The Boro side showed six changes from the side that started the league game Bolton on New Year’s Day, two were enforced as Shay Given and Daniel Ayala, who are both on loan, were ineligible to play.

That meant a Boro debut in goal for Dimi Konstantopoulos, as Boro lined up 4-4-1-1 with Rhys Williams moving to centre back alongside Ben Gibson and Jozsef Varga coming in at right back. Grant Leadbitter kept his place in midfield but was joined by Dean Whitehead in the middle and Luke Williams and Emmanuel Ledesma on the wings, Marvin Emnes also returned as he tucked in behind Curtis Main upfront.

Bruce had the luxury of making nine changes from Hull’s trip to Liverpool, as only David Meyler and Maynor Figueroa kept their place while Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore didn’t even feature on the bench.      

There was an early buzz that can only be created by the excitement of a cup tie but, to Hull’s credit, it gradually faded as the visitors were quick to suck the life out of the occasion, playing on their own terms.

The opening goal was a result of a careless Boro start as the hosts lost possession inside their own half. In a matter of seconds the visitors had worked the ball to the feet of Meyler on the edge of the Boro penalty area, his shot deflected off Gibson into the path of McLean who reacted quickly to dink the ball over Konstantopoulos.

From that point Boro’s afternoon slowly unravelled, the visitors were astute with the ball and played with the fluency only a Premier League side can muster. Their passing was crisp as they dominated possession in midfield, every time Boro did threaten a counter attack they quickly ran out of options in the final third.

Neither side created a great deal in front of goal, it took until the 38^th minute for Boro to produce their first shot on target when Ledesma cut in from the right onto his favoured left foot however his tame shot bobbled nicely into the grasp of City keeper Steve Harper. Minutes later Main fired over the bar from a tight angle but it was clear something had to change.

To Karanka’s credit he didn’t sit back and brought on Lukas Jutkiewitz and Albert Adomah at half time as Ledesma and Luke Williams made way.

For a few minutes Boro’s attack looked a little more potent, George Friend fired wide, before Emnes managed to direct a low cross into the Hull penalty area, the ball was half cleared to Whitehead on the edge of the box however the midfielder could only spray his shot and the host’s best chance wide of the post.

Any hopes Boro may have had of at least salvaging a replay were significantly reduced 30 minutes from time; George Boyd did well to avoid a number of challenges to the left of the Boro box before dragging the ball back across the area for Proschwitz to smash home from close range off the underside of the bar.

City threatened to make things embarrassing; a long pass from Steven Quinn, who had dominated the midfield all afternoon, towards Proschwitz had to be intercepted by Williams to prevent a one on one opportunity for the striker.

In the dying minutes Konstantopoulos was called into action to make a comfortable save from George Boyd’s long range effort.

Boro threatened to create a grandstand finish five minutes from time, Adomah’s attempted cross was heading goal bound and had to be tipped over by Harper, Main’s header found the side netting before Leadbitter forced another save from the keeper, but it was too little too late, overall Boro will know that were well outplayed and can learn a lot from their Premier League opponents.

Match Ratings  

Dimi Konstantopoulos    5.5- Made a few comfortable saves, couldn’t do much about either goal

George Friend    6.5- Solid defensively added some attacking threat from full back    

Ben Gibson   6- No major mistakes unlucky his deflection led to first goal

Rhys Williams   6.5- Moved back to centre half where he made some important interceptions and tackles

Jozsef Varga    6- Back in at right back and had a solid game

Luke Williams   5- Looked lost on the left of midfield, replaced at half time

Dean Whitehead   5.5- Pinned back by the Hull midfielders as Boro were overran in the middle

Grant Leadbitter   6- Gave a usual hard working performance but came out second best to the Hull midfield

Emmanuel Ledesma   5- Offered little on right the right of midfield, replaced at half time

Marvin Emnes   5.5- Created Boro’s best chance in the second half but was quiet for most of the game

Curtis Main   5.5 – Given little support in the first half, even less effective on the left after half time

Subs

Albert Adomah   6- Added some threat on right of midfield but didn’t have a huge impact on the game

Lukas Jutkiewitz   5.5- Lacked support upfront after coming on at half time

Jacob Butterfield- came on with six minutes to go not enough time to give a fair rating

My Boro Man Of The Match Rhys Williams