Bamford hat-trick puts Boro back on promotion trail
WHEN it comes to strikers, Patrick Bamford is feast or famine. If he continues to gorge himself on goals like this, you would fancy Middlesbrough to make the Championship play-offs. Until last week, the 24-year-old had scored just twice in the league since a £6million switch from Chelsea 13 months ago. But his clinical hat-trick last night at a bracing Riverside took his tally to six in three matches, helping return Boro to the division’s top six for the first time since November. Suddenly, a middling start to life under Tony Pulis is gathering momentum. The direct approach Pulis teams are renowned for did not come in the form of aerial balls but the running of Mo Besic and Adama Traore, players with Premier League experience. Besic, on loan from Everton, served notice of his willingness to take on the Leeds defence in the fifth minute when he instigated a move that saw Stewart Downing fail to connect with Ryan Shotton’s centre across the six-yard box. Bamford was denied a 10th-minute opener from a Besic lay-off when Felix Wiedwald saved with his legs. But there was no stopping his effort just after the half-hour mark. Downing angled the ball in from the right and a clip with Bamford’s right instep directed it into the bottom corner from 10 yards. The portents for home victory were good from there — Middlesbrough had won all 13 of their league matches in which they had scored first this season. Bamford’s second was down to the sheer speed of Traore, who broke after a failed Leeds attack, darted 60 yards down field and slipped a precision pass that was slickly taken and drilled under Wiedwald. The treble was completed midway through the second period when Traore’s blocked shot was deflected to Bamford, who stroked the ball despite calls for offside from Leeds. GRIMSBY TOWN have appointed Michael Jolley as their new manager. He replaces Russell Slade, who was sacked by the League Two strugglers last month after 14 games without a win.