Stoke City found themselves back in the game against the run of play in the 71st minute when Justin Hoyte unfortunately scored an own goal after finding himself under considerable pressure from Dave Kitson. Preceeding this in the second half Stewart Downing could only hit the crossbar from a penalty. While the game saw Boro maintain an undefeated record at home Gareth Southgate has stated he has mixed feelings following the victory stating quite truthfully that this had been our least impressive match thus far of the Premiership season. Boro had an abundance of chances and should have easily despatched of Stoke, but instead made hard work of it -yet still came out the victors in the match. This perhaps marks a change from the Boro we are used to who in fairness would be far more likely last season to be unable to win games they dominated due to a lack of ability to score goals.

Impressive performances were still to be found during this match also, with Jeremie Aliadiere looking particularly impressive with his darting pace finding him easing his way past the Stoke defence while also playing well-targeted passes. Roberth Huth was also a rock at the centre of the defence, alleviating the frequent high balls played into the Boro box by Stoke in an attempt to benefit from potential confusion. Middlesbrough currently lie 5th in the Premiership table, and while this season is sure to have its ups and downs, an impressive start we would usually go without will hopefully see us consolidate a reasonably successful season.

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