Middlesbrough v Leeds United | Championship - as it happened
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http://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2015/feb/21/middlesbrough-v-leeds-united-championship-live Version 0 of 1. 2.18pm GMT14:18 Wow! Neil Redfearn and his staff embrace one another, as well they might – that was one heck of a battling performance by Leeds, who took the lead early on through Mowatt and had to ride their luck for long periods thereafter, with goalkeeper Marco Silvestri making save after save after save. It’s their third away win in a row, and surely their best result of the season. But what of Boro? An equaliser looked a matter of time, with the break perhaps coming at an inopportune moment for them. Silvestri was inspired as they carved Leeds open time and again, but they did fade in the last half-hour. I wonder if Karanka needed to make the changes he did, Lee Tomlin coming on and sometimes overcomplicating things when the simple stuff was working fairly well, and Patrick Bamford rarely getting a sniff. No panic for them, they’re clearly a very good side for this division, but this was a big opportunity missed. While this is a great result for Leeds, it’s also one for Derby, Bournemouth and Ipswich. And it’s over to them now – you can follow their fortunes via Ian McCourt’s Clockwatch. Thanks a lot for Reading, and I’ll see you later – if you are so included – for Man City v Newcastle. 2.13pm GMT14:13 Full-time: Middlesbrough 0-1 Leeds (Mowatt 3) A huge result in the Championship! 2.12pm GMT14:12 90+9 min: And Mejias throws himself at the ball, but can’t get anything on it! It goes out for a throw-in at the far side. Leeds are almost there. 2.11pm GMT14:11 90+8 min: Which eventually leads to another. Mejias is coming up! 2.10pm GMT14:10 90+8 min: Deep Adomah cross, Friend challenges, ball goes for a corner... 2.09pm GMT14:09 90+7 min: And a Boro corner now, won from Byram. Quickly taken but Murphy is up well to clear. Then Bamford clips a ball through to Kike, who would be through with some moderately decent control but lets the ball zing off him. 2.08pm GMT14:08 90+6 min: That said, Cooper is booked for fouling Bamford. 2.07pm GMT14:07 90+5 min: Leeds currently fairly comfortable. I’d definitely reflect, as things stand, that Karanka went too early in top-loading with attackers. They were behind, yes, but the chances were coming thick and fast. Perhaps personnel could have changed, but surely not the shape. 2.06pm GMT14:06 90+3 min: Murphy does not take the corner short, dollying in a cross that Mejias catches. Boro look to get on their way again but Leeds win it back. 2.05pm GMT14:05 90+3 min: Save by Mejias! Austin, who does like a shot from range, unleashes one from 30 yards and the ‘keeper tips it over! 2.04pm GMT14:04 90+2 min: Bellusci does not continue. Liam Cooper comes on, and will slot straight into the defence as Leeds look to see this out. Perhaps not ideal for them. 2.03pm GMT14:03 90+1 min: Now Bellusci is down, with what may simply be cramp. If he continues, he’ll have nine minute of stoppage time to work with. 2.02pm GMT14:02 90 min: Play restarts. What can Boro muster in this final minute of regulation time plus, presumably, seven or eight minutes added? It’s tempting to think that all the substitutions in fact did little for their shape. They were playing well enough to score. 2.01pm GMT14:01 89 min: Vossen is stretchered off after verging on a five-minute stoppage. Haven’t seen a replay of the challenge that laid him low, so can’t say much about the nature of the injury – but it does appear to be to the head. It certainly looks like a worry, and we wish him well for a swift recovery. 1.58pm GMT13:58 86 min: Still we wait to see how Vossen is. He’s getting plenty of attention from the medics and a stretcher is at hand. You’d have thought Boro will have to finish with 10 men as they’ve made all three changes, although the priority is clearly their striker’s health. 1.56pm GMT13:56 84 min: Vossen is currently down with what seems to be a head injury. 1.56pm GMT13:56 83 min: Austin has a chance now! Byram finds acres of space to drive through the middle and his through pass finds its way to Austin, who adjusts himself to shoot as the ball sits up but hits it straight at Mejias. Leeds, for all that they have been under the cosh, have had their own opportunities to finish this. 1.54pm GMT13:54 81 min: And Leeds have a good chance straight afterwards, Byram doing well to get right to the left byline and beating Mejias with his ball across goal – but Wootton can’t get onto it a the back post! 1.53pm GMT13:53 80 min: Instead it is Boro who make a third change, Adam Forshaw on for Leadbitter. The sub is immediately evident – getting booked within seconds for a late tackle. 1.52pm GMT13:52 79 min: Slightly surprised Neil Redfearn hasn’t brought on any fresh legs yet – his team has had to concentrate, physically and mentally, so hard today. Not that it was necessary just then, though, as Kike floated a shot well over. 1.50pm GMT13:50 78 min: Middlesbrough play a corner way back to Adomah, the cross eventually being headed on to Leadbitter inside the area – but his attempted volley is well blocked. 1.49pm GMT13:49 76 min: Into the last 15 minutes and, even if you can’t believe Boro have not scored yet, it’s getting desperate now. Updated at 1.49pm GMT 1.47pm GMT13:47 75 min: Adomah weaves down the right but crosses to Silvestri. Boro turning the screw again just now. 1.46pm GMT13:46 73 min: ....which is cleared again by the Leeds striker Morison, who is probably second only to Bamba in the number of defensive interventions made. To prove the point, he clears another Leadbitter corner shortly afterwards. 1.45pm GMT13:45 73 min: Adomah is fouled by Cook on the right. Dangerously-situated free-kick... 1.44pm GMT13:44 72 min: A Leadbitter corner is flicked away for a flag kick on the other – right – side. The next one is played short, with the cross eventually flicking off a head and almost finding an unmarked Kike, but Morison gets something on it. Updated at 1.45pm GMT 1.43pm GMT13:43 70 min: Bamford, Vossen, Kike, Tomlin and Adomah are all on the pitch for Boro now. That’s some lineup. 1.42pm GMT13:42 70 min: Chance for Kike! A lovely flick from Bamford puts him clear inside what had seemed a crowded area, but it’s Bamba again – a superb block for a corner that’s cleared. 1.41pm GMT13:41 69 min: Austin has a pop, but it’s well wide. Still, Leeds finding much better positions now. 1.40pm GMT13:40 68 min: Silvestri had gone 20 minutes or so without being pressed into action, but he now has to dive left and parry a Vossen curler from the left corner of the area. Again, good work but one you’d expect him to make. Then Friend gets a sight of goal inside the area after a neat move, but shoots over under pressure from Bamba. 1.38pm GMT13:38 66 min: Leeds are getting far closer to Boro at the moment, just as they were in the first 15 or 20 minutes of the game. But the hosts’ options on the bench are enviable; they’ve plenty of scope for getting another head of steam up. Talking of which, here indeed is Bamford. The right-back Nsue comes off. Boro are really going for this. 1.37pm GMT13:37 64 min: Bamford is being readied... 1.36pm GMT13:36 63 min: Dominic Smyth writes – “Am watching this on TV in Sweden, listening to the commentary on LUTV (Eddie Gray, what a Legend) and reading you here and the general consensus seems to be we are going to need a miracle here to hold on ... then again, We Are Leeds. P.S. Can we just name Silvestri as MotM now?” We probably can, Dominic. I understand LUTV’s pessimism, and still share it on their behalf to an extent, but they’ve had a pretty good 10 minutes just now. That said – Tomlin gets a sniff inside the area and Bamba concedes a corner, with Morison then giving away another. 1.33pm GMT13:33 60 min: Decent ball from Cook gives Austin a sniff, but Mejias is out quickly again. Leeds starting to show more going forwards, but they won’t want to leave any more spaces at the back. 1.32pm GMT13:32 59 min: Tomlin, who does not appear to be built with athleticism in mind but in fact tends to get about the pitch pretty well, is straight into the action – dropping deep to pull a string or two. Updated at 1.32pm GMT 1.30pm GMT13:30 57 min: Bamba takes one for the team by pulling back Kike, who would have been away with Vossen free on the right. Yellow card. And now Tomlin comes on for Reach, which is certainly an attacking move. 1.28pm GMT13:28 56 min: Mejias tips that corner away, and Boro come again. 1.28pm GMT13:28 55 min: Bamba, who is playing very well, gets ahead of Vossen from an Adomah cross. Then Morison, who seemed to be offside, is fleetingly through at the other end and Mejias has to get out very sharply to slide-tackle the ball away. Shortly afterwards, Mowatt almost gets onto an awkwardly bouncing ball at the back stick and it’s cleared – just – for a corner. Updated at 1.29pm GMT 1.26pm GMT13:26 54 min: They’ll have another problem to deal with now, as Lee Tomlin – a wonderfully creative force – is about to come on. 1.25pm GMT13:25 53 min: Not sure if I can’t see a way Leeds can hold out here, or see what’s happening here as proof that they almost certainly will. 1.25pm GMT13:25 52 min: Silvestri is employed once more, as Adomah – who could have cut the ball back to an unmarked Kike – smacks in a cross-shot from the right and the ‘keeper paws the ball up and away. 1.24pm GMT13:24 51 min: Kike, Silvestri....only one winner, again. The Spaniard runs with the ball, shoots low for the near post and the goalkeeper diverts it wide. Not his hardest save of the day but this is getting silly now. From the corner, a Gibson header almost finds Kike but it’s smuggled away. 1.22pm GMT13:22 49 min: Crossbar! Murphy puts in the free-kick and Wootton gets up, wins the header....and it twangs the frame of the goal! Bamba overhead-kicks the rebound well over. What a start to the half. 1.21pm GMT13:21 48 min: Austin lets out a yelp that could wake the dead as he’s bundled over by Friend near Boro’s left corner flag. Could have been a yellow, that. Austin gets gingerly to his feet; Leeds have a well-positioned free kick. 1.19pm GMT13:19 46 min: Silvestri starts as he left off, seeing a low Kike curler from the left well and diving to paw it away. It bounced awkwardly in front of him. This could be a long half for Leeds. 1.18pm GMT13:18 Underway now – Leeds kick us off Here we go. 1.17pm GMT13:17 Back out for the second half, now. Any predictions, expectations, cynical asides? 1.16pm GMT13:16 An email from Stephen Kearney now: “Just to let you know you are followed here in Juba, South Sudan as yet another year of stress for Boro fans continue. Can we stay at the top?” Despite the scoreline, Stephen, I think they might. And all the best to everyone doing good work out there in South Sudan, by the way. 1.12pm GMT13:12 Licking their lips at this scoreline will be Derby, Bournemouth and Ipswich. Derby host Sheffield Wednesday today, Bournemouth go to Brentford, Ipswich host Reading. 1.09pm GMT13:09 JR in Illinois has gallantly saved me from no-email humiliation with the following: “Seeing Leeds reminds me of possibly the best radio caller I have ever heard. It was either the last Saturday or Sunday of August last year, just after Cellino sacked Hockaday. Dude phoned into the 606 show and insisted that Leeds would win the “European Cup” by 2020. As far as I could tell he was absolutely serious. How do you feel about that? You liking their chances? Haha.” Lewis Cook for Ballon d’Or in 2020. You heard it here first. 1.04pm GMT13:04 Half-time: Middlesbrough 0-1 Leeds Well, well. A mistake from Mejias contributed to that early Mowatt goal, and Leeds have largely been battered since – and indebted to some heroics from their own ‘keeper, Silvestri. But Bamba really should have made it two with the half’s last action. Who will regret what? Back shortly. 1.03pm GMT13:03 45+2 min: And they should have scored from it! It’s swung in from the left and Bamba, getting ahead of Friend, would score with any meaningful contact! But he doesn’t get enough on it and it goes wide! 1.02pm GMT13:02 45+1 min: Leeds win a corner, somewhat controversially given by Marriner after Mejias seemed to have kept the ball in.... Updated at 1.03pm GMT 1.00pm GMT13:00 44 min: Vossen finds a pocket of space midway inside the Leeds half and his ball towards Kike ends up pinballing off his strike partner....and close enough to the Leeds goal to force Silvestri into a precautionary dive. 12.58pm GMT12:58 42 min: Silvestri is all over the place from an Nsue cross, and it takes a great covering header from Wootton to deny a Boro player a simple far-post finish. 12.56pm GMT12:56 40 min: Adomah tries to slide Vossen in but it’s overhit. Near-incessant Boro pressure here, and Leeds will be delighted if they can see out the next five minutes or so. 12.55pm GMT12:55 39 min: Change the record? No chance. Silvestri now beats a low Clayton shot away, although he is perhaps fortunate that nobody is around to snaffle up the rebound, as his parry runs straight down the centre of the box. 12.52pm GMT12:52 36 min: Leeds get an increasingly rare set of feet on the ball, culminating in a bustle to the line from Morison down the left and a reasonable cutback. Austin and Wootton are both lining up to shoot on the opposite side of the box, but that results in a breakdown in communication and neither doing so. It was a chance, but when Boro have an even better one at the other end when Adomah, alone at the back post, controls poorly and allows the ball to loop up to head height. It is cleared. 12.50pm GMT12:50 34 min: Boro, when at full pelt as now, are a swarm of bodies, movement, running, agility, interchanges. They are behind here but in passages they are showing exactly why they are so loftily placed. 12.49pm GMT12:49 33 min: Silvestri – again! He tips over superbly after Kike cuts inside from the left and lets fly. It’s deflected and looks as if it might arc over him, but it’ll take more than that to outdo the Italian in this form. 12.47pm GMT12:47 31 min: No two ways about this, Silvestri – who has now made four saves of varying difficulty – is having a stormer. He is nearly troubled again by Leadbetter now but the shot is dragged wide of his left-hand post. 12.46pm GMT12:46 29 min: Another Boro chance, and another for Vossen! It’s a fine Silvestri block after Adomah, centring from the right, finds Vossen – one of several players along on the edge of the six-yard box. A goal seemed certain. The move originated with a sublime ball from Leadbitter to George Friend. 12.44pm GMT12:44 28 min: Now Bamba denies Vossen with a fine block after he nearly capitalised on some hesitant defending. You feel Boro certainly have goals in them. 12.43pm GMT12:43 27 min: Leeds haven’t shown much for a while. Morison hounds Clayton in the Boro box but can’t win a corner. They do then win a free-kick though, as Sam Byram is fouled just inside the home team’s half. Slowing things down won’t harm them. Updated at 12.43pm GMT 12.41pm GMT12:41 24 min: The free-kick, taken 35 yards out by Leadbitter, pings up off the wall and Silvestri is a tad lucky that the ball bounces through to him without being nudged on by one of the many challenging heads. 12.40pm GMT12:40 24 min: Bellusci rightly gets a yellow card from Andre Marriner after going through the back of Vossen. Ten for him now this season, and thus a two-game ‘break’. 12.38pm GMT12:38 21 min: And another chance! It’s Vossen again, getting onto the end of a squeezed ball across from Reach, who slid in to get enough purchase. He gets to the ball ahead of Silvestri, who gets just enough of a touch on it to stop the ball rolling across the line. Much more like it from Boro now. 12.36pm GMT12:36 20 min: Chance! Adomah plays the ball back to Nsue, who clips a nice cross into Vossen, who has run across Bellusci and belts a volley towards goal. Silvestri, at the near post, beats it wide! The resulting corner is cleared to Reach, who hits well over. Updated at 12.36pm GMT 12.34pm GMT12:34 19 min: Leeds’ plan, pressing apart, is pretty clear. Get the ball up to Morison and have midfield runners – I’m thinking Austin, Cook, Mowatt – buzzing off and beyond him. They still look as if they could threaten, and certainly aren’t going into their shells despite the early goal. 12.33pm GMT12:33 17 min: Adam Reach has a very nice left foot and just aimed a tempting-looking cross towards Vossen, which was cleared. 12.32pm GMT12:32 16 min: Nsue, incidentally, plays at right-back for Boro today but just a couple of weeks ago he was striker and captain for Equatorial Guinea at the Africa Cup of Nations. He even produced this: 12.30pm GMT12:30 15 min: Cook, who has started superbly, takes Emilio Nsue on down the left but loses out. Cook has only just turned 18 and looks quite a player. 12.29pm GMT12:29 14 min: Your emails are welcome, by the way. Ping nick.ames.casual@theguardian.com. 12.29pm GMT12:29 13 min: Now some brinksmanship at the back from Leeds, with Bellusci getting into a pickle and seeing Adomah charge his clearance down. Boro just starting to wake up here. 12.27pm GMT12:27 11 min: Murphy pressed Leadbitter well just then, and continued onto Kalas. He gestured to team-mates to do similarly. But they didn’t press well enough moments later, when Kike got around the outside of Giuseppe Bellusci and saw a fierce drive parried by Marco Silvestri! 12.25pm GMT12:25 9 min: Leadbitter takes said set-piece but Morison heads away well. The Leeds man then keeps running and almost gets onto the end of a diagonal ball from Cook in the opposite penalty area. 12.24pm GMT12:24 8 min: Adomah gets to the line and wins the game’s first corner... 12.24pm GMT12:24 8 min: This much-changed Boro team hasn’t really got going yet. Leeds have won a few throw-ins down the left and their fans are in fine voice. Will Karanka regret making so many alterations? 12.22pm GMT12:22 6 min: Nearly a response from Boro, with Leadbitter squaring a clever free-kick across to Jelle Vossen inside the area. A clear shot at goal there, but he gets his feet all wrong and miskicks. Updated at 12.50pm GMT 12.21pm GMT12:21 5 min: Well, that was so, so careless from the goalkeeper Mejias, whose throw out was intercepted by Lewis Cook. Cook foraged down the right and his cutback to Mowatt was not perfect, but the midfielder got to the ball first and cracked a low 20-yarder – deflected slightly off Ben Gibson – into the bottom corner! Game well and truly on!! Updated at 12.22pm GMT 12.19pm GMT12:19 Goal! Boro 0-1 Leeds (Mowatt 3) Deflected and in! 12.17pm GMT12:17 1 min: Rudolph Austin storms forward early on for Leeds, but is dispossessed. Couple of feisty early challenges too. 12.16pm GMT12:16 And they're off! Boro get us underway. Stay close. 12.14pm GMT12:14 The players are out. It’s sunny. Kick-off soon... Updated at 12.39pm GMT 12.13pm GMT12:13 Aitor Karanka: “It’s a good opportunity but I don’t want to put pressure on my players. They know how difficult it has been to get in this position and they just need to enjoy and keep working in the same way.” Neil Redfearn: “We’ve proved that on our day we can get results against top sides so that’s the message. We’ve got to stay in the game, make it difficult for them and when we get the chance to play, play.” 12.10pm GMT12:10 Boro’s home record is the third-best in the division – they have won nine, drawn four and lost just two at the Riverside. Leeds’ away record has looked a lot perkier with those two recent wins. They sit 18th in the away table now but prior to the two wins they had won just once on the road. Updated at 12.38pm GMT 12.08pm GMT12:08 I said the top of the Championship was tight, and this is how tight: only seven points separate Boro, top, from sixth-placed Norwich. Ipswich, in fourth, are only three points behind them. 12.04pm GMT12:04 So Leeds are unchanged from last weekend’s win over Millwall there. For Boro, Tomas Mejias takes over in goal from Konstantopoulos, Adam Reach replaces Ryan Fredericks, Albert Adomah is in for Lee Tomlin, Kike rather surprisingly comes in for Bamford and Adam Clayton replaces Adam Forshaw. Tomas Kalas is also in, at the back. All of which tells you what a strong squad Boro have... Updated at 12.14pm GMT 12.00pm GMT12:00 And here are Leeds, Leeds, Leeds: Team news vs Middlesbrough: Silvestri, Wootton, Bamba, Bellusci, C Taylor, Byram, Austin, Murphy, Cook, Mowatt, Morison. #lufc 11.59am GMT11:59 Boro line up thus... TEAM NEWS: Mejias; Nsue, Kalas, Gibson, Friend; Leadbitter, Clayton, Adomah, Reach; Vossen, Kike. 11.49am GMT11:49 The Championship’s a funny old league, right? Crazy. Bonkers, as Mick McCarthy perpetually has it. Anything can happen! Anything will happen! Last weekend was proof enough. If Watford’s 4-3 win at Bolton didn’t seduce you then Forest’s madcap 4-4 against Blackpool should have. Bonkers indeed. Yet a look at this season’s table would convey the opposite impression to a visitor from Mars. The top eight have all but broken clear of the rest, and there is a genuine likelihood that the fabled “team that makes a late run for the play-offs” simply won’t materialise. Blackburn, in ninth, are 10 points off sixth; tenth-placed Forest are 12 shy. All of which points to unusually, grindingly, relentlessly consistent form from the top few. And nobody is placed higher than Aitor Karanka’s Middlesbrough, who returned to the top of the division on Wednesday night after Patrick Bamford’s second-half equaliser gave them a point at Birmingham. Two points dropped, you could say – but maybe one gained, given that they played the second 45 minutes with 10 men after goalkeeper Dimi Konstantopoulos was sent off. Boro are unbeaten in nine league games, sit a point clear of Bournemouth and, with a pleasing blend of high-intensity pressing and incisive possession football, look well set to press home that advantage over the remaining 15 games. Leeds wouldn’t seem to be the worst opponents to begin fulfilling that aim. They sit snugly in 14th, neither going up nor careering down. They have perked up noticeably under Neil Redfearn of late though, winning four of their last five and easing themselves away from what had seemed likely to be a relegation fight. Off-field concerns have hardly helped, but their away form has been decent recently – wins at both Huddersfield and Reading suggesting that there is life in their season yet. So can they do it again today? Will Boro show that they can handle the pressure? Are there twists and turns to come in this tightly-packed promotion race? Answers soon, hopefully. 11.30am GMT11:30 Kick-off is at 12.45pm (GMT). Nick will be here with team news and build-up from noon. |