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Boro fall victim to a late Royals assault
Middlesbrough 0 Reading 1
MIDDLESBROUGH made it known prior to their fixture with Reading they were throwing their weight behind International Women's Week and supporting their domestic violence campaign. The Teessiders warmed up in T-shirts displaying the fact that there's no excuse for domestic violence.
Ironically Boro could claim to have been victims of a domestic assault in their own back yard after the game after being hit by Reading's sucker-punch.
But James Harper's injury-time winner for the visitors may have further repercussions. It not only confirmed back-to-back Premier League defeats for the first time since either side of Christmas Day but it also dragged Middlesbrough back into the relegation mire for the first time.
Victory would have put some much-needed breathing distance between Boro and the bottom sides as they turn attentions to next week's FA Cup sixth round with Cardiff.
But only four points now separate Boro and third bottom Reading as they go into their last ten fixtures of the current campaign.
While relegation may seem unlikely, given there are some wretched clubs fighting for top-flight survival, Boro can ill afford to allow the cup to distract them from the importance of preserving their Premier League status.
Yet the FA Cup is probably to blame for Boro's lethargic, tired and uninspired performance at the Riverside at the weekend, which ultimately thrust them back towards the danger zone.
The Teessiders had to perform for 120 minutes against Sheffield United on Wednesday for the luxury of hosting Cardiff in the sixth round of the FA Cup on Sunday - and manager Gareth Southgate acknowledged it may have contributed to his side's lumbering show.
"We'd be a lot happier standing here if we'd won but it's typical of our season," said Southgate after the club fulfilled its 4,000th league fixture. "You make a bit of progress but you can never switch off. We dived in on a tackle and allowed a midfield runner to go (for goal).
"Part of that is tired decision-making and that can happen in the 90th minute of any game. But after two games in three days and going into extra-time, that is understandable.
"Some of our players ran a great distance the other night because it was a late finish and it gave Reading a physical advantage. They set up well and done a job."
Yet Middlesbrough never looked in danger of losing the contest until their struggling Premier League counterparts struck in injury-time. The Teessiders enjoyed most of the possession and created the best chances, while their visitors rarely threatened Mark Schwarzer's goal.
And although the hosts didn't miss a host of gilt-edged opportunities, Stewart Downing, Gary O'Neil and David Wheater all spurned decent efforts either side of the break to put the game to bed.
The Boro boss lamented his team's inability to be clinical.
"We did have chances but I thought we had tired finishes, tired crosses or tired final balls," said Southgate.
"That was always going to be a crucial part of the game. But then having seen the game through as far as we had we should have seen it through and been clinical."
But the Boro boss believes his side probably missed the opportunity to put some breathing space between the bottom teams because he was unable to freshen up his tired squad.
"We wanted to keep freshening it up as much as we could and were thinking who could go on for the last half hour?" said the 37-year-old chief. "We're nowhere near able to pick from a full squad.
"In games like this having a full squad to choose from can have a big impact because you can't freshen things as much as you'd like to.
"We were hoping to have one or two unavailable who weren't. Even coming into the game we weren't sure whether Afonso (Alves) was going to start, while Mido was throwing up all night.
"In the end he (Mido) wanted to get out there but he wasn't able to give us as much energy as he'd hope. It was the same old, same old. It frustrates the life out of me not being able to get a full squad fit.
"That is the first time tiredness has affected us. In the previous cup games we've left people out and kept people fresh. We didn't have many alternatives.
"We tried that with Tuncay in midweek and I thought he was very bright because of it. But everybody else had to go the 120 minutes. There were two or three I would have liked to have given a rest because they were a bit jaded. We've got a few days days now and hopefully we'll have a few back for Sunday's FA Cup game."
After that the scrap for survival begins in earnest.
2:02am Monday 3rd March 2008
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