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Manchester City 3 Middlesbrough 1 - Match Report
By Elizabeth Medhurst October 7 2007
For the second consecutive week the Boro bus set off for a journey across The Pennines, the City of Manchester Stadium being this week’s stop. The mission was to put a halt not just to City’s perfect home record but to the growing consternation of the Boro faithful.
With late fitness tests ruling out appearances by strikers Mido and Dong Gook, a 4-5-1 starting position was announced with young Tom Craddock taking the responsibility for leading the front line – an opportunity afforded by the current striker crisis.

Riggott returned to the back four, putting Wheater back on the bench. He was joined by Tuncay – still not fully fit after picking up a knock against Sunderland, but hopefully with enough in reserve to be effective if needed.

Schwarzer, Young, Riggott, Woodgate, Taylor, O’Neil, Boateng, Rochemback, Cattermole, Downing, Craddock. Sanli, Turnbull, Wheater, Shawky, Hutchinson

THE FIRST HALF

Southgate started the match in the stands, and unusually was nowhere to be seen before kick off. City started by showing they meant business, with the first shot of the game coming within the first minute from Petrov, but was easily saved by Schwarzer. The next two minutes were tentative from both sides, then Boro started to get a toe into the match with the midfield establishing shape and frustrating Elano who tried to find a way through.

On six, Craddock won a header against Michael Richards, but the ball landed straight on the opposition. Patience was the watchword for City, stalking the red shirts and waiting for an opportunity. This came on eight when Johnson made a shot, resulting in a corner. This was taken by Petrov, initially cleared by Woodgate, however immediately there was a surge on the Boro goal, a scrappy mess with the ball ricocheting off lots of bodies, eventually landing at the feet of Dunne. He attempted to get it over the line, but in fact there was a deflection off Riggott who took the dubious credit of opening the scoreline as the ball trickled in to the Boro goal.

Manchester City 1 Middlesbrough 0 (Riggot o.g,.9)

Johnson immediately got a lightning break after the kick off, but was off side. The first Boro corner came shortly afterwards, but there were still no threats to the home side. As the minutes passed City’s confidence visibly grew. Boro were clearly shaken, but there was no time for reflection. By seventeen it was noticeable that a significant proportion of Boro players found themselves hitting the damp grass, but fortunately no more injuries just yet.

At twenty-two Boateng made a 35 yard shot in the first desparate attempt of the game, but the only danger that created was to a steward on the left hand side of the stands who was nearly decapitated. Like a game of cat and mouse, City then toyed with Boro as Mpenza, followed by Hamaan, made threats of increasing the scoreline in quick succession.

Another attempt to open Boro scoring came from a free kick 30 yards left of centre, however Rochemback struck it poorly, hoofing it straight into the wall. This was picked up by Hamaan, to Petrov, but cleverly anticipated by Schwarzer. There had been a spell of Boro predominantly playing for possession by this time. As the half hour mark approached this changed into a spell of attack. The best move of the afternoon so far came from an outswinging corner from Downing, swept clear, Woodgate then managing to get it back to Downing, who found Rocky. He made up for his earlier gaffe by giving Cattermole the ball from his left foot, resulting in a sublime header. Unfortunately Hart’s save was equally sublime.

City however were momentarily all over the place and clearly rattled by this spell. They dealt with this by putting on a decisive attack. This time Johnson ripped through the defence and found Elano who gave Schwarzer a right footed shot which he had no chance whatsoever of stopping.

Manchester City 2 Middlesbrough 0 (Elano 33)

With all the crowd doubtful that Boro could get back into the game at this point, tempers started to get frayed as frustration grew. No cards were yet issued by Steve Bennett, and to the visitors credit there were dogged attempts to both hold off the onslaught from the Blues and esablish some identity to the half. With no more major incidents from either side, Boro trudged miserably off to re-group.

THE SECOND HALF

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the start of the second half saw Tuncay replace skipper Boateng. Instantly there was a chance as he gave Craddock a ball from the left foot, but the youngster couldn’t make anything of it – a shame as Hart was not looking like he was fully concentrating. Either Boro were attempting to go for the worst performance of the season so far, or significantly more effort to finish off was being started was needed.

Formation had changed to 4 3 3 with Downing moving further up the pitch, leaving Rocky, Cattermole and O’Neil to take care of the midfield. All in all Boro started brightly and a glimmer of hope started to peek out from beyond the horizon.

On fifty Ireland put in an accurate shot, but there was a brilliant block from Riggot. The corner was taken by Dunne and safely held by Schwarzer. From this a lovely break was created by Boro and as the red shirts came forward Tuncay crossed to Young who performed a sliding right foot shot which missed by a whisker, narrowly going wide. So unfortunate as Hart was definitely beaten. The next shot was by hard-working Craddock, his lack of experience hindering him as opposed to his efforts.

As the hour mark approached Hutchinson came on for Tom Craddock, and there had been a total of seven Boro attempts on goal in this half so far. City made their first change swapping Johnson for Ball.

A Woodgate foul on Mpenza was rewarded by a yellow card and a free kick in the edge of the box. Prior to this play and atmosphere had both gone a little bit flat, but this was not the way to liven things up. As Elano took aim from the left side, the ball curved in an arc over both the wall and Schwarzer’s head.

Manchester City 3 Middlesbrough 0 (Elano 62)

Whilst a blind man on a galloping horse could see that Boro were dead and buried, the team would not roll over. The next period saw attacking play with corners being won and more attempts on goal, the best coming at 66 from Rocky. Downing was looking rattled and had to be spoken to by Steve Bennett. It was easy to empathise as going into battle without key players was an uphill task at best, but the reality of getting closer to moving into the bottom three for the first time this season was hard to bear.

City meanwhile had carried on cruising through the half, all dangers created by Boro snuffed out easily. They were not satisfied with three as, once Mpenza was replaced by Samaras, Ireland got on the end of an Elano free kick forcing a quality save from Schwarzer – total humiliation being held at bay for the time being.

The yellow cards still came steadily Boro’s way, with O’Neil chanelling his frustration against Hart; Young also having found his way into the book 10 minutes earlier for bringing down Garrido.

As the red zone was entered, never did a forthcoming international break seem so welcome. The match statistics showing roughly equal possession and attempts on target were no comfort whatsoever as reality showed Boro players unable to hold any shape and showing visible signs of dejection. There was nearly a fourth, but Petrov had to rely on Cattermole’s swift action to deny him the rebound when the ball had initially jumped out of the goalkeeper’s hands.

Miraculously a small consolation was snatched when Tuncay came down the right side and his left foot found the well positioned Hutchinson who netted at the bottom left to get his first senior goal for the Boro, Hart finding it imposisble to hold.

Manchester City 3 Middlesbrough 1 (Hutchinson 89)

Of course there was nowhere near enough time to turn things round, even though there were more opportunities for O’Neil and Tuncay. An unhappy Boro would return to Teesside on the threshold of two massive games against Chelsea and Man United with little left in the cupboard and relying on quick healing of both the injured players and the squad’s morale.

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