Middlesbrough knock Derby off the top thanks to Bamford and Leadbitter

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/dec/13/middlesbrough-derby-championship-match-report

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The Chelsea academy’s daunting task of filling their first team may be giving José Mourinho serious thought but some of Chelsea’s youngsters are more than good enough to fill other clubs’ first XIs. Patrick Bamford is a case in point.

The 21-year-old, on loan at Middlesbrough, scored one and helped create the other as Boro overcame the team Bamford was on loan at last season, Derby County, with a measure of ease that surprised neutrals, and possibly the Derby manager, Steve McClaren.

It was a victory which temporarily put them top of the Championship for the first time since early November 2012 and Bamford, who was at Nottingham Forest’s academy before joining Chelsea when he was 18, was the focal point of an always purposeful Boro attack and took some knocks from former colleagues along the way.

His sixth-minute opener was his fifth in his last six games and though the Boro manager, Aitor Karanka, was reluctant to single out his young forward, he did say: “I know José likes him. José is happy with Patrick here and it’s good for us and good for Chelsea because José won’t have any doubts that he can be a good player.” Bamford is due to return to his parent club in January but it could help for him to stay in the north-east beyond then.

Bamford was also the player tripped by Ryan Shotton shortly before the hour. Shotton was shown a straight red card for his carelessness –part of a Derby pattern – and Grant Leadbitter, the Boro captain, lashed in his sixth penalty of the season.

Middlesbrough had been the better side until that moment and Derby were simply not going to retrieve the situation with 10 men. Sure enough, they did not force Dimi Konstantopoulos into a proper save until Craig Bryson’s 87th-minute stab at goal.

The victory meant that Boro leapfrogged their visitors, whom Karanka had called beforehand “the best team in the division”. It was a claim he repeated afterwards but Derby have now lost three of their last four away games and as McClaren said: “In our last eight we’ve won four and lost four and that inconsistency isn’t going to get us where we want to go.” McClaren pondered aloud whether Derby’s away form amounted to “a concern or a blip”, adding: “We’ve got to be in the top six with 10 games to go.”

They will need to play with greater focus if that is to happen. There was a looseness of touch from players as normally accomplished as Jeff Hendrick and Boro’s style, personified by the harrying Leadbitter, allowed Derby no room for such sloppiness.

With Karanka watching from the stands due to his one-match dugout ban, Middlesbrough’s midfield hustled Derby from the off. It was this that led to Bamford receiving the ball early and nudging it to Adam Reach. The latest winger from Boro’s academy, Reach has balance and reached the byline to cut the ball back. Bamford evaded his markers and beat the Derby goalkeeper Lee Grant with a clipped, if not thunderous, first-time shot that went in off the far post.

Karanka said his side did not play with style for the remainder of the half but Grant made a fine double save from Bamford and Jelle Vossen on 27 minutes. McClaren made two half-time substitutions but Boro were the more energised team at the start of the second half.

With George Friend supporting Reach on the left, Grant made further saves and Daniel Ayala missed a sitter before Shotton’s foul on Bamford.

Next up for Boro is a trip to Ipswich; next for Derby is Chelsea in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday. Chelsea minus Patrick Bamford.