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PORTSMOUTH v MIDDLESBROUGH - NO FESTIVE CHEER FOR BOATENG
Middlesbrough captain George Boateng is urging his side to put another miserable Christmas behind them by bouncing back at Portsmouth.
The Teessiders head for Fratton Park on Saturday having failed to take a single point from their home fixture against West Ham on December 22 and their Boxing Day trip to Birmingham.
That has left them 16th in the Barclays Premier League table, just three points better off than derby rivals Sunderland, who are languishing in 19th after yesterday's 4-0 home drubbing at the hands of leaders Manchester United.
Harry Redknapp's men made a flying start to the season and their 0-0 draw with Arsenal still represents a good result despite the fact it extended their wait for a win on their own turf to six matches since they demolished Reading 7-4 on September 29.
Boro make the long trip south desperate for a positive result after following up league wins over Arsenal and Derby with successive defeats.
"Christmas normally has not been very good for us, but I was very hopeful this Christmas because of the fixtures," said Boateng.
"With West Ham at home and Birmingham away, I was hopeful we would get at least four points, and that would have been great.
"We could have won either one of them, but never mind.
"Portsmouth are beatable. If you really want to and you start well, you can win the game.
"I know Portsmouth are strong at home, but they lost also at home to Tottenham, so we should go there and start again - and start better than we did at Birmingham."
Gareth Southgate's men did indeed get off to a bad start at St Andrews when England winger Stewart Downing hacked Gary McSheffrey's 22nd-minute free-kick into his own net.
Their efforts to drag themselves back into the game lacked no endeavour, but once again, the cutting edge which has deserted them for much of the season was missing.
City took full advantage just before the break when Mikael Forssell toe-poked home a second after Boro failed to deal with a Sebastian Larsson corner at the near post, and McSheffrey's late penalty simply cemented the victory.
Boateng told the club's website: "We did not start the game well at all and it resulted in an unlucky own goal.
"The first goal was always going to be important in this game, but saying that, I still felt afterwards we did not really recover.
"We did not do enough to prevent the second goal going in at a very bad time.
"At 1-0 down going in at half-time, you still have enough time to come back and win the match.
"But when the second one went in, you knew it was going to be really difficult.
"In the second half, we tried. We had a few chances and the keeper made good saves, but although we were trying, it did not ever look like we were going to get that goal.
"The manager said to us 'Look at the team-sheet. As disappointed as you are, just look at it. They beat you today, so you must feel really disappointed in yourselves'."
Boateng is suspended for the match on the south coast after accumulating five bookings for the season, while former Pompey midfielder Gary O'Neil remains a doubt with the hamstring problem which has sidelined him for the last two games.
By Bettingzone.co.uk
Used with permission.
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