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MIDDLESBROUGH 2 BIRMINGHAM CITY 0 - FULL-TIME REPORT
Barclays Premier League, Saturday 1st September 2007
Goals from David Wheater and England winger Stewart Downing gave Middlesbrough a comfortable win against Birmingham at the Riverside.
Wheater headed home Andrew Taylor's cross after just 12 minutes to hand Boro the lead.
Downing then doubled the advantage from close range nine minutes before the interval.
Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate restored Julio Arca, Jonathan Woodgate and Jeremie Aliadiere to his team.
They played in the 2-2 draw with Newcastle last Sunday but were rested for the midweek Carling Cup win over Northampton.
Midfielder Gary O'Neil signed too late from Portsmouth on transfer deadline day to make his debut.
Blues boss Steve Bruce made just one change from the side which recorded Blues' first league victory of the season at Derby last week, with Sebastian Larsson coming in for Gary McSheffrey.
Boro were first to show and in the second minute centre-back Wheater broke into midfield and released Aliadiere but Radhi Jaidi came across and the ball deflected off the Frenchman for a goal-kick.
Wheater was closer to the action moments later when George Boateng's corner picked him out on the edge of the area but he fired over the bar.
Luke Young's mistake in allowing the ball to roll off the end off the pitch thinking it had not come off Woodgate gave Birmingham a seventh-minute corner and Liam Ridgewell headed over Larsson's resulting cross.
Johan Djourou needlessly gave the ball away in midfield which allowed Aliadiere and Mido, seeking to become the first Boro player to score in his first three league matches, to set up Downing but the Egyptian's pass was too strong and goalkeeper Maik Taylor collected.
Birmingham's untidy play was handing the initiative to the hosts and they were made to pay when they failed to clear Downing's 12th-minute corner.
Arca's shot was half-blocked by Cameron Jerome and left-back Taylor picked up the loose ball and crossed for Wheater to head home the opening goal from seven yards.
Aliadiere should have done better four minutes later when a counter-attack saw the former Arsenal striker cut in from the left but shoot tamely at Taylor.
Jerome showed great control to take a 30-yard pass from Ridgewell on his chest but he could not follow it up with a decent finish and blazed over.
Aliadiere did better in the 23rd minute, forcing Taylor to tip over after Arca had found space in front of Birmingham's back four.
Arca was continuing to pull the strings in the Boro midfield but when he uncharacteristically gave the ball away to Jerome just before the half-hour his blushes were spared when the striker fired straight at Mark Schwarzer with Mikael Forssell better placed to his left.
Birmingham's only means of stopping Arca appeared to be illegal ones and Fabrice Muamba was booked for a late challenge on the Argentinian in the 31st minute.
But the visitors were torn apart again in the 36th minute when Taylor's cross from the left was headed back into the path of Downing by Boateng and the unmarked England winger made no mistake from close range.
In the last action of the half Arca volleyed over from the edge of the penalty area after Fabio Rochemback's right-wing corner.
HT Middlesbrough 2 Birmingham 0
There was no sign of Birmingham getting their act together early in the second half as, just two minutes in, Taylor was forced to hack the ball away after Jaidi's misplaced backpass had wrong-footed him.
And if Mido had been sharper the visitors could have been further behind when he chested down Downing's first-time cross but fired over from 12 yards.
The Egypt striker was off target again, this time with a 53rd-minute header, from Rochemback's chip into the area.
Aliadiere should have had the match wrapped up seconds later when he was put through on the right of the area but shot straight at Taylor.
Bruce had seen enough and made a triple substitution in the 55th minute with Larsson, Forssell and Muamba making way for McSheffrey, Garry O'Connor and Mehdi Nafti.
Nafti's first contribution was to be booked for pulling down Mido near the halfway line.
Olivier Kapo, who had been anonymous for much of the match, unleashed a 25-yard drive in the 63rd minute but it was a foot wide of Schwarzer's left-hand post.
Middlesbrough still continued to dominate, however, and right-back Young saw his shot from Aliadiere's pull-back cleared off the line by Kelly.
Aliadiere continued to provide options up front and when he cut in from the left his deflected shot was tipped around the post low to his right by Taylor.
Kapo was booked for a trip on Mido as Birmingham struggled to offer little in terms of an attacking force and even when McSheffrey's low long-range strike had Schwarzer beaten it was wide of the post.
In the last minute substitute Dong Gook Lee slid the ball into the side-netting with the goal gaping after Downing's perfect cross.
FT Middlesbrough 2 Birmingham 0
By Bettingzone.co.uk
Used with permission.
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