Middlesbrough fall to nine-man Wolves

SO much for a Good Friday then. A chaotic afternoon might have ended with Middlesbrough playing against nine men for the final 19 minutes of their dramatic encounter with table-toppers Wolves, but their numerical superiority did not result in a victory.

Instead, Wolves’ eight outfield players displayed the kind of dogged resolve that is generally the preserve of champions. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side only need three more wins to guarantee a place in the Premier League, and the way the Portuguese manager and his backroom staff celebrated on the pitch at the final whistle, there is clearly a strong expectation those results will arrive.

Where Boro will end up is rather harder to predict. With Bristol City, Sheffield United and Preston all failing to win earlier in the day, yesterday’s defeat has not cost the Teessiders a place in the play-off positions.

Nevertheless, for all that an inability to contain Wolves’ first-half attacking was alarming, Tony Pulis will have been even more concerned at his players’ failure to exploit their two-man advantage in the closing stages of the game.

Patrick Bamford clawed a goal back in the fourth minute of stoppage time, volleying home Adama Traore’s through ball, but his crisp finish represented a rare moment of composure amid a glut of scuffed shots and mishit passes. Wolves pulled all of their players into their own penalty area, and their goalkeeper, John Ruddy, must have been surprised at how little he actually had to do in the closing stages of the game.

There will be a handful of defining moments in the final seven matches of Middlesbrough’s season, and Pulis’ players will have to be far more clinical and clear-headed than they were yesterday if they are to make the most of them. That said, however, they will not be involved in many more chaotic situations than the one they found themselves experiencing against Wolves.

Boro’s players deserve credit for keeping their heads as Ruben Neves and Matt Doherty lost theirs, with Traore worthy of special praise as he once again found himself the subject of a series of reckless fouls. Traore refused to retaliate as he was repeatedly chopped to the ground, and the game ended with referee Stuart Attwell having handed out eight yellow cards and two reds. In that context, it was hardly a surprise when there was a further scuffle in the wake of the final whistle as Middlesbrough’s backroom staff took exception to the frenzied celebrations of their counterparts in the Wolves dug-out.

The Championship leaders boast an attacking-midfield set-up that would be the envy of most teams in the Premier League, and in Helder Costa and Neves, they have unearthed two players that are surely destined for bigger and better things no matter what division their current employers find themselves in next season. On the evidence of the second half, however, they need to learn how to remain on an even keel when they feel things are going against them.

Initially, it was Wolves’ players displaying some level-headedness in the face of opposition aggression. Boro spent the opening quarter-of-an-hour attempting to knock their opponents from their stride, but their efforts proved in vain.

Grant Leadbitter picked up a deserved booking after scything into Ivan Cavaleiro, Ryan Shotton somehow avoided one despite catching Barry Douglas close to the touchline. Wolves’ players simply picked themselves up, dusted themselves down, and set about dismantling the defence that was stationed in front of them.

The visitors almost claimed the lead in the 16th minute as Neves fired in a curled effort that Randolph tipped around the post, and while Boro’s Irish goalkeeper did his best to try to keep them out from that point onwards, he was eventually beaten twice in the space of five minutes as Wolves flexed their muscles prior to the break.

He was somewhat unfortunate on both occasions, as both Wolves goals featured saves from Randolph in the build-up. The first saw the Boro shot-stopper keep out Costa’s driven effort, only for Boro’s defenders to pass up a couple of opportunities to scramble the ball clear. Douglas stood up an intelligent cross to the back post, and an unmarked Costa volleyed home from the corner of the six-yard box.

Suddenly, Wolves’ attackers were swarming all over the Middlesbrough 18-yard box. Randolph turned Neves’ long-range curler over the crossbar, but from the resultant corner, the Teessiders fell two behind.

Again, Randolph did his best to protect his goal, clawing away Willy Boly’s close-range header from inside the six-yard box. Unfortunately, he could only palm the ball to Cavaleiro, who nodded home from no more than a yard in front of the goalline.

Boro’s first-half attacking amounted to little, despite the best efforts of Patrick Bamford, who toiled gamely against the man-mountain figure of Boly, who has to be the biggest centre-half in the Championship. Even Traore found it no easy task to try to run around him.

Initially, Wolves’ attempts to contain Traore just about stayed within the laws of the game, but as has been the case with so many of Boro’s opponents this season, they eventually concluded that the best way to halt the former Barcelona trainee was to chop him to the ground. Eleven minutes into the second half, and they paid the price.

Wolves’ composure was rocked when Attwell rightly adjudged that Costa had dived as he went to ground under a non-existent challenge from Friend, and within three minutes the visitors were reduced to ten men. That Neves was dismissed for two fouls in the space of those same three minutes only added to the sense of a team that had lost their heads.

Neves received his first booking after he fouled Traore, and was deservedly dismissed as he scythed down Friend close to his own penalty area.

Suddenly, the visitors were all over the place, and while Bamford failed to bring down Traore’s through ball as he galloped into the area, Wolves’ evening was about to get worse as their ten men became nine.

Doherty had been booked in the same incident that resulted in Neves receiving his first yellow card, and he also saw red when he caught Friend with an elbow as he challenged for a high ball. When Attwell was forced to book Ryan Bennett for another foul on Traore moments later, the leaders had the air of a team completely out of control.

Not, however, that Boro were able to punish them. Daniel Ayala volleyed Traore’s cross wide of the far post, and with Wolves pulling all eight of their outfield players into their own penalty area, the hosts lacked the composure that was required to prise their opponents apart.

Stewart Downing curled over with seven minutes left, and while Bamford provided a flicker of hope when he volleyed home Traore’s chipped pass in the fourth minute of stoppage time, there was to be no dramatic recovery.