Carbon copy goals bury Boro and lift City

JOE BRYAN and Jamie Paterson hit Boro with replica goals as City moved to third and heaped more frustration on Garry Monk.

Bryan and Paterson both made the most of some slack defending to connect with right-wing crosses at the start of the second half.

Boro were given some hope when City defender Hordur Magnusson headed into his own net, but Monk’s men would not have deserved a point and their third defeat in four games leaves them back in ninth place.

The Robins, though are surging with six wins in their last eight matches. After a cagey opening it was City who produced the better scoring opportunities with Bryan their main supply line. The midfielder began to expose Boro down their right flank and his deflected shot in the 20th minute forced keeper Darren Randolph into a scrambling save. Bryan then whipped in a low cross just out of Josh Brownhill’s reach as the visitors’ leaky defence reflected why they had let in three goals last time out at home to Derby. With Bobby Reid a bundle of energy up front, City were pulling Monk’s side out of shape and a home goal looked inevitable. The Robins’ neat short-passing game made Boro look static by comparison and their striker Britt Assombalonga’s most significant contribution to the first half was when he cleared off his own line after City’s Marlon Pack had driven the ball goal-bound. But it was Boro – dormant for so long – who almost snatched the lead just before the break when fullback Fabio caught a volley that hit Frank Fielding on the arm before the keeper was able to make a conscious save.

Boro might well have thought they’d weathered the storm, but within eight minutes of the restart they were on the rocks after two goals in three minutes.

Reid had already been left unmarked, only to shoot over, but the Robins were more ruthless in the 51st minute and went ahead.

Bailey Wright was worked into space on the right and his dipping cross was headed home by the unchallenged Bryan.

It should have been the prompt for Boro to get a grip of their defensive disarray, but instead they fell 2-0 behind to an almost identical goal.

This time it was centre-back Aden Flint who had the time to measure a cross after a swift counter-attack and from the same spot as Bryan had been, Paterson swept the ball home.

Monk (left) sent on Rudy Gestede and Marvin Johnson in an attempt to ingnite a response, but the spark came from an unlikely source when Magnusson scored a bizarre own goal in the 74th minute.

A tame, hopeful cross mysteriously unsettled the Icelandic defender and he sent a panicky header past a stranded Fielding.

Boro sensed a chance of a point, but despite some activity from Assombalonga and Adama Traore, they were unable to create another opening. Possession 49% 51% Shots On Target 7 1 Shots Off Target 6 4 Blocked Shots 2 2 Corners 0 5 Fouls Conceded 10 13 Offsides 1 2 Yellow Cards 2 2 Red Cards 0 0