Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
YOU FOUND THE NET, NOW FIND A PEN!
Warnock challenges Fletch to sign a new deal
GOAL-HERO Ashley Fletcher will not be able to bask in the glory of his best week in Middlesbrough colours – because he has been told not to get too big for his boots.
Teesside contract rebel Fletcher, 25, was given the warning by manager Neil Warnock after putting play-off chasing Boro on course for victory over their promotion rivals.
It was Fletcher’s second goal in five days after his decisive penalty in the midweek 2-1 win over Huddersfield.
And his Madejski Stadium display proved Fletcher is determined to make up for lost time after being sidelined for four months with a hamstring injury.
Fletcher will be out of contract this summer but Warnock has urged him not to snub club-owner Steve Gibson’s contract offer.
“I think we’ve offered Fletch as good an offer as he’s going to get, wherever he goes,” said Warnock. “The thing is I don’t think he wants to leave, but you get influenced by people behind you, by agents and all sorts of other things.
“There has been an offer on the table for him, but I don’t think he wants to accept it at the moment – so it’s up to him. But I don’t worry about that – if he goes, then I’ll replace him with someone better.”
Forward Fletcher looks like someone who is playing for his future – wherever that may be.
“I know what Fletch can do and, at the moment for us, he’s as good as anyone else in the League at what he does,” said Warnock (with Anfernee Dijksteel after the game, right).
“His contribution against Reading was immense – he didn’t give their centre-halves a moment’s peace. He deserves a lot of credit for his work-rate and his finish was great, but what really pleased me was his eagerness to score.
“I challenged him to finish as top scorer despite being out for so long and I’d be more than delighted if he did finish top of the scoring charts.
“But, then again, you don’t need to have many games to be Middlesbrough’s top scorer.”
Fletcher cemented his place in Warnock’s good books by putting Boro ahead on 22 minutes with a closerange finish before Marc Bola scored a stunner seven minutes later. That was enough for Boro to intensify the pressure on Reading and the rest of the teams in the play-off pack.
For the Royals, the only consolation was the return from injury of Romania striker George Puscas.
“In the first half, Boro were more aggressive than us,” Puscas said. “I’m very happy because it’s been a very hard few months. Now I just want to think about the final games because I have missed it.
“I’m feeling good, I’ve been working hard, I feel fit and strong and ready for everything.
“I cannot wait to play in the final games, so we have a great end to the season.”
Rafael 6, Yiadom 6, Morrison 6, Mcintyre 5, Richards 5 (Gibson 46, 6), Rinomhota 6, Laurent 6, Olise 6 (Aluko 89), Semedo 6 (Esteves 46, 6), Ejaria 6
(Puscas 78, 6), Joao 6
MIDDLESBROUGH: Bettinelli 6, Dijksteel 6, D Fry 7, Mcnair 8, Fisher 7 (Mendez-laing 78), Howson 7, S Morsy 7, Kebano 6
(Saville 78), Bola 8, Fletcher 9, Watmore 7 (Johnson 66)
READING:
1 0 YOU can’t beat a good Samba beat, and Blackburn could not beat Samba.
Goalkeeper Brice Samba loved hearing a crowd as Nottingham Forest played a 90-minute recording of the Red Army in full voice through the whole of the match for the first time.
It was the idea of assistant manager Paul Trollope to get Forest rocking by the Trent.
Samba loved it and made a stunning second-half penalty save from hot-shot striker Adam Armstrong that kept Forest’s win intact and took them seven points clear of the Championship drop zone.
“It’s been difficult in an empty stadium, especially for me, I like to have the fans behind me,” said
Samba. “Having no fans, there was more impact before the first lockdown last season, because playing matches then, it was like training. I like the ground when it is full.”
Samba dived two-handed to his right to push away Armstrong’s penalty after Alex Mighten (right) gave Forest a 25th-minute lead.
“I do my homework on penalty takers,” added Samba. “But the last penalty from Armstrong, it was to my left side.”
This Samba would have got a 10 from the Strictly judges and now Forest visit Rotherham tomorrow with two defeats in 13 league games. But their fans have still to see for themselves how Chris Hughton is guiding their club to safety.
“It seems like I’ve been here for a long time and on no occasion have I had the fortune to play in front of our home supporters – that’s something I’m looking forward to,” said boss Hughton (above), who joined in October. Blackburn are on a four-game losing slide with pressure growing on manager Tony Mowbray.
“We have a lot of injuries,” said Mowbray, who lost Sam Gallagher at half-time to a suspected punctured lung.
“It was the way
Gallagher fell after a collision. He was coughing up blood.
“If you are going to hold a team up that is missing it’s stars, that won the European Cup and the Premier League, then that’s Liverpool.
“I’m not saying we are Liverpool, but our best team, it would really
threaten in this league.”