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MANCHESTER CITY v MIDDLESBROUGH, PREMIER LEAGUE, 2nd APRIL 2006
FULL-TIME REPORT
We've had some good battles with Manchester City down the years, although they have never beaten us in the Premiership going into today's match. But you don't win games on statistics so that meant nothing when this match began.
Surprisingly, Steve McClaren named an almost full-strength team although Mark Schwarzer was out, suffering from swollen glands. It was 4-5-1 formation with Yakubu starting up front with just one striker, Viduka, on the bench and George Boateng and Lee Cattermole restored to the starting line-up.
Jones, Queuedrue (Taylor 9), Ehiogu, Riggott, Parnaby, Downing, Rochemback, Boateng, Cattermole, Morrison (Davies 88), Yakubu
Knight, Mendieta, Viduka
THE FIRST HALF
Boro looked confident and composed in the early stages of the match with Stuart Parnaby worrying the City defence with a great run down the right and Lee Cattermole and James Morrison combining well to produce our first real opportunity, although nothing came of it.
On six minutes Franck Queudrue took a bad knock after a tackle from Darius Vassell and sustained a knock that he wasn't able to run off. There was no option but to substitute Franck on nine minutes and he was replaced by Andrew Taylor.
There seemed to be a hole in Boro's defence after Franck had to be taken off and City found themselves able to break forward for the first time in the match. Lee Cattermole was a little over enthusiastic in cutting out Sibierski on one such attack and was booked for his troubles.
City continued to probe but never really troubles Brad Jones' goal as the match became very short of goalscoring opportunity. Moving into the twenty minute mark, neither keeper had been required to make a save.
The best opportunity of the first quarter of the match came when City broke from midfield with the busy Vassell leading the line and looking certain to score until he was dispossessed in the penalty area by George Boateng. City appealed for a penalty but it was a fair tackle by George and one that had saved Boro from falling behind.
The next ten minutes were uneventful as the pace of the game slowed dramatically and the tempo became painfully drawn. Mistakes were being made by both sides now although nobody was showing the urgency required to capitalise on these.
The game continued to decline in terms of quality but Boro broke the deadlock with just two minutes to go until half-time. Stewey Downing spotted Lee Cattermole's excellent run down te middle and played the perfect cross in to him. Cattermole connected and powered in his first Boro goal to bring a dreary affair back to life.
MANCHESTER CITY 0 MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Cattermole 43)
Boro went looking for a second straight away and attacked with the feeling that the game was there for the taking. Sixty seconds of added on time was not really enough to allow us to extend the lead and a Rochemback long range effort was the closest we came to a second goal. But 1-0 at half-time is a great scoreline, considering the poor quality of the game in the first fourty-five.
FIRST HALF FAN REACTION
"What a brilliant header from Cattermole. We should go on and win this now."
John Hickton
THE SECOND HALF
Neither team made changes for the second half but Boro looked as though they may be forced into one early on when Lee Cattermole picked up a knock and started to struggle badly.
Cattermole recovered and played on and was involved in the best move of the game so far as Boro went on the attack with a move that culminated in James Morrison collecting in midfield and taking the ball all the way into a scoring position and was unlucky not to have doubled Boro's lead with his shot.
That move brought City back to life and they immediately upped the pace and started to take hold of the game. But Boro produced a fantastic counter-attack on fifty-three minutes and Lee Cattermole almost finished it three times after picking up the ball on the edge of the box and testing David James to his limit.
The tempo of the game rose dramatically after another Boro attack involving several players and City were rattled by a Yakubu shot that unfortunately went over the bar.
David James kept City in it again when Yakubu did extremely well to break through the City backline. Boro now had the game by the scruff of the neck and produced several clear attacking opportunities. David James did very well to keep the score down but Mike Riley did not do so well when he failed to spot Yakubu being pulled back by a City defender.
But Boro's dominance was such that it seemed unlikely that a penalty would be required to kill them off. It seemed like onlky a matter of time before we went two up.
INTO THE RED ZONE
Boro should have got the second with ten minutes to play as yet another great chance went begging and the City fans started to stream out of the stadium.
The second half performance from Boro would have been the best we had seen this season had the finishing been a touch better. Even so, with eight minutes to play, a 1-0 lead started to feel comfortable and the magical fourty point mark well within touching distance.
With just three minutes left, Boro started to play keep-ball as City deployed more and more men forward. Boro withdrw James Morrison and replaced him with Andrew Davies with just two minutes left and switched to three centre backs and played out time.
The City fans booed what was undoubtedly a poor display by their side but don't take anything away from Boro as this was a deserved win. And a valuable three points as well in front of what will be a massive match on Thursday.
FULL-TIME FAN REACTION
"We hammered them 1-0!"
John Hickton
Final Whistle: 1652 - Report Online: 1657
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