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Tag Archives: Middlesbrough

18th August – Rams battle it out for a point against Boro

19 Wednesday Aug 2015

Posted by petekobryn in Championship

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1pt, Aitor Karanka, Derby County Football Club, Jamie Hanson, Jeff Hendrick, Johnny Russell, Middlesbrough, Rams, Richard Keogh, Scott Carson

18th August

Derby County          1          Johnny Russell 88

Middlesbrough       1          Kike 16

It was nearly déjà-vu all over again as Middlesbrough rocked up to the iPro and nearly repeated the suffocation job they delivered in March.

The Boro have in recent games shown an annoying ability to stifle our attacking moves without so much as breaking a sweat.

When they took the lead in this game, against the run of play, they looked every bit the team headed for better things this year.

But after having grabbed the initiative they seemed largely content to pull the team behind the ball and, particularly in the second half, look to hit us on the break as we dominated possession.

Unlike that dispiriting game in March though we smuggled a point out of this one with Johnny Russell’s emphatic finish with just over a minute of normal time to go.

In the build up to this game I was thinking about the potential threat posed by Stewart Downing to us but he had a quiet game and I was delighted that perennial pain in the arse David Nugent never made it off the bench.

Two changes for the Rams as Stephen Warnock and Andreas Weimann came in for Craig Forsyth and Johnny Russell. While I had expected Johnny to be stepped down for this one the change at left back was a surprise.

Warnock had one of his best games for the Rams though and was more of a presence in the attacking half of the pitch throughout.

We started with verve and tempo, we looked good. The atmosphere was loud and raucous and the evening had the feel of a contest between two top teams.

Despite the feeling afterwards that we had not created much Boro’s excellent keeper, Dimi Konstantopoulos, pulled off three top class saves in this match, the first of which was to deny Jeff Hendrick’s shot in the opening assault.

And then out of nothing Boro were ahead. George Friend was given too much room with the ball on our right flank, found himself in our area, shanked his shot, the ball fell to Kike who put the ball away.

We lost our energy after that goal and for much of the rest of the first half the visitors looked comfortable, creating a couple of half chances and not allowing us to build any real momentum.

Before the half was out our appalling run of midfield injuries continued apace. Both Jamie Hanson and Jeff Hendrick were forced off before the half time oranges, both from fouls that resulted in Hanson being concussed and Hendrick picking up a dead leg.

Our midfield is going to be a case of rounding up the willing and able for the game against Birmingham and even if Jeff Hendrick recovers we found out today he might have other matters weighing on his mind.

The public outing of our bid for Jacob Butterfield by the Huddersfield chairman during the game showed that the club is trying to resolve matters but it is clear that we are the moneybags club (at least in other clubs’ view) as the price quoted for Butterfield is said to be £5m.

The resulting shuffle saw Ryan Shotton and Johnny Russell on and a change of formation to a 4-2-3-1.

The last few minutes of the half saw the Rams get a bit fiery and it certainly served to get the crowd revving again. Tom Ince arrowed in a free kick that was heading for the bottom corner before Dimi just got to it.

The second half proved to be an extended defence vs. attack session as Boro seemed content to hold what they had. It is not difficult to see the influence of Aitor Karanka’s mentor Mourinho in the way they play, squeezing the life out of the game and looking to overload on the break.

It is clearly successful but I could not help wondering that with such a range of good players in the team they were selling themselves a little short?

Darren Bent came on for Andy Weimann and we moved to the third formation of the night – 4-4-2.

Another superb save from the Boro keeper denied Chris Martin’s glancing header from a corner.

Then with hope and expectation ebbing away Ryan Shotton launched one into the area, Chris Martin got something on it – the ball fell just right for Johnny Russell surging unmarked into the area and with obvious relish he slotted the ball home.

This was an important point and would have been an awful game to lose. The fighting spirit the Rams showed under difficult circumstances was good to see.

Richard Keogh had another good game and Scott Carson is looking well set in goal.

Our attacking game is stuttering but the loss of Hughes (particularly) and Bryson has hurt us.

A trip to Birmingham on Friday night next up.

Played GD Pts
13. QPR 3 -1 4
14. Cardiff City 3 0 3
15. Leeds United 3 0 3
16. Derby County 3 0 3
17. Blackburn Rovers 3 -1 2
18. Reading 3 -1 2

17th March – Injuries continue to bite as toothless Rams are bested by Boro

18 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by petekobryn in Championship

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0pts, Derby County Football Club, Jamie Hanson, Johnny Russell, Lee Grant, Middlesbrough, Patrick Bamford, Rams

17th March

Derby County     0             

Middlesbrough    1       Patrick Bamford 64

The winless run for the Rams now stretches to five games with this deflating defeat to well organised promotion rivals Middlesbrough; a defeat made all the more frustrating by identity of the goalscorer.

Particularly worrying to see was the complete lack of threat we posed in this game with (arguably) one clear cut chance created all night.

The continued absence of Chris Martin and Darren Bent is something we are not coping with at all and the Rams are suddenly 5pts away from the automatic promotion spots with only 8 games to go.

That one chance fell to substitute Jesse Lingard late on and with little time to steady himself he flashed his shot wide.

Indeed we did not force goalkeeper Dimi Konstantopoulos into one meaningful save all game and as the night wore on we may have huffed and puffed but it never looked likely that we would score.

There were two changes for Derby from the team that took a battling point away from Carrow Road on Saturday. Cyrus Christie and Craig Bryson were selected replacing Ryan Shotton and Jeff Hendrick.

There was no return to the match day squad for George Thorne though despite Paul Simpson’s pre match interview suggesting that the Rams would give the influential midfielder every chance to be involved, including the alarming comments about “taking a risk” on him if we had to .

This left me conflicted as to whether I was disappointed he was still missing or pleased we weren’t taking a gamble on him.

His absence meant a home debut for Jamie Hanson who again acquitted himself very well, combative in the tackle and neat and organised in his passing.

He is looking an incredibly mature player for his age and a hell of a prospect for us, though it is a big ask to be throwing him into the business end of a promotion battle against two of our rivals.

Injuries to the three players we would be selecting in front of Hanson though have left the Rams with few other options.

The game started steadily, the Rams pushing Boro back but without threatening in front of yet another 30,000 + crowd.

I was getting a little déjà vu from that awful refereeing performance in the Birmingham game as Andy D’Urso made a few idiosyncratic decisions early on but that was forgotten as a superb whipped cross from Cyrus Christie so nearly found Jamie Ward sliding in at the far post.

This was almost immediately followed by a superb double save from Lee Grant as Boro showed what they were capable of.

I found myself thinking we might have a bit of luck on our side when, later in the half, Granty shanked a clearance straight to Jelle Vossen who lobbed the ball back toward the empty net only for it to bounce off the post back into the grateful Grant’s grasp.

Johnny Russell again had the thankless task of leading the line as the central striker but despite his endless work and application he had little to work with as time and time again he was fighting for balls better suited to Andy Carroll than a player of his stature.

There were flashes of creativity and intent from us in the first half, a lovely pass from Jamie Ward nearly putting Tom Ince in after half an hour and a lovely move involving Richard Keogh, Tom Ince and Cyrus Christie almost unlocking the defence.

As the first half ended I optimistically thought that we could nick this with a little bit of magic from either Will Hughes or Tom Ince but we never seemed to get started in a second half that started in a haphazard way with injuries to Vossen and Grant Leadbitter interrupting play.

Johnny Russell snatched at a half chance just before the hour, pulling his shot wide of goal and shortly afterwards the sense that Boro had been holding us off waiting for their chance became all too apparent.

The Rams gifted possession to Lee Tomlin who played in Patrick Bamford superbly, and with a crushing sense of inevitability the on loan Chelsea striker evaded Lee Grant and slid the ball into the net.

We never looked like rescuing the game when we fell behind. Jeff Hendrick, Jesse Lingard and Kwame Thomas were thrown on, Raul Albentosa played increasingly as an emergency striker but Middlesbrough kept us at bay with ease, I’m afraid to say to take a vital three points and hold on to 2nd place.

Realistically we have moved from one of the favourites for automatic promotion to outsiders with that 5 point gap opening up.

It would be foolish to say that we have seen the last of the myriad twists and turns that the Championship has served up so far but our form is poor, our confidence is low and we are missing key players.

If we are to wrest back some initiative and control over our destiny this season a win at Molineaux is a must on Friday night – to do that under the current circumstances would be impressive and so very welcomed.

Played GD Pts
1. Watford 38 +33 72
2. Middlesbrough 38 +32 72
3. AFC Bournemouth 38 +39 70
4. Norwich City 38 +31 67
5. Derby County 38 +28 67
6. Brentford 38 +12 65

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