I have no more words; I am repeating myself game after game. Yes, we won on the weekend, but that does not mean anything unless we can back it up with another three points. Norwich and Coventry both dropped points on Tuesday night and a win yesterday could have put us four points behind sixth-placed Norwich, with a game in hand. I would definitely have some hope if we won this game, but, no, it is officially out of our hands again. Don’t take anything away from the performances, it’s just the way we handle games, especially when we are in-front.
Again, we completely dominated this game, barring a few short spells from Boro, chalking up 18 shots, seven of which were on target, to their 13; we had 60% possession and 666 completed passes. This was predominantly from the first half, however, we could have scored at least 4. Once again, it’s all about what you do with the ball that matters.
Rosenior made no changes to the starting eleven that he fielded in our 3-1 victory in Wales on Saturday, save from the captain Lewie Coyle coming in for Matty Jacobs. That meant we lined up in the usual 4-4-2 as follows: Ryan Allsop in goal; Lewie Coyle, Alfie Jones, Jacob Greaves and Regan Slater as the back line; Tyler Morton and Jean Seri in the middle with Omur and Philogene either side and that leaves Carvalho and Tufan leading the flock.
The visitors came out of the stops much quicker than us and they gave us a fright after they opened up the scoring in the 4th minute; Clark looped a long ball over the left flank, which released Engel, who saw Latte Lath in the box and chipped it over to him and he was able to take it towards the dead ball line and slot it in from a tight angle.
In some ways, this was a good way to start the game, because afterwards, we controlled the game and looked like a team who is pushing for promotion. The style of football from previous games against Cardiff, Leicester and Southampton was in full force and it turned out to be one of the best first halves of the season.
Our first great opportunity came after the 20th minute when a high press allowed us to win the ball back near our own area and some great link-up play between Philogene, Carvalho and Omur allowed the latter to have a free shot in the box, but he slipped just as he shot and it went wide of the post. Quickly followed up in our next attack by a dangerous ball swung into the box by Seri, which was met by Greaves, but it was clawed away by Dieng, their keeper.
The Tiger’s perseverance and resilience was rightly rewarded in the 29th minute as Philogene drew level; the latter received the ball outside the box from Coyle and he was able to curl one in towards the far post, which did not need a flick by anyone as it went straight in. Initially, they gave the goal to Tufan as they thought he got a touch, but it was given to Philogene.
The remainder of the half was us hemming Boro into their own half and completely tearing them apart. But, we needed another goal as the visitors still had a sense of danger in them. Fortunately for us, we were gifted a helping hand in the 41st minute after we took the lead; Dieng attempted to play out from the back, however, he passed the ball straight to a player, who was being pressured by Seri, who won the ball, kept his composure and whalloped it into the roof of the net. Lovely; I am glad he has got on the score sheet.
I do not know what the manager said to the players at half time, but our second half performance was the antithesis of how we played in the first half. As a former defender, I guess he told them not to concede, which is probably negative advice, as that is what the players attempted to do. Why, though? We are clearly the better side, so what’s wrong with pushing for more goals? This came around to bite us.
We started the second period off quite good, with Omur getting the ball into the box right at the start, but nobody was there to convert; Regan Slater also had a decent chance shortly afterwards, when he drove on the right flank and let one rip from the edge of the box, but it went wide of the post. Then, Morton found himself in the box, but instead of shooting for the first time, he spent too much time picking somewhere to aim at; he was dispossessed and this was the beginning of Middlesbrough’s equaliser.
Azaz and Jones broke down the pitch in the 71st minute and exchanged a few passes before Jones made the final pass, which released Azaz into the box and he was able to shoot and it ricocheted off Alfie Jones before going over Allsop and trickling into the right-hand corner of the net.
Omur might have nicked victory for us in the closing stages of the match; Seri found Tufan with space and he was able to thread the ball to Omur charging towards goal and with only Dieng to beat, he smashes it at his legs. This was unfortunate, but he was certainly man of the match for me and a great prospect for us.
Well, the points were shared and we are still joint ninth with our opponents and the gap between us and sixth is six, so we really need Norwich to lose, but with their remaining fixtures, that is not likely. Nonetheless, our attention now turns to our game on Saturday against QPR, whose form in the last 28 games has been slightly better than us. If we lose to them, our playoff hopes will definitely be crushed.