Wat a huge miss, Dunc
By at the bet365 Stadium
CHRIS WILDER refused to blame Duncan Watmore for a horror miss that cost his Middlesbrough side victory.
Watmore blundered after 15 minutes with only Stoke keeper Adam Davies to beat from six yards.
And while City striker Tyrese Campbell produced a poor miss of his own, it wasn’t in the same league as Watmore’s shocker that ensured Boro were denied a third win on the bounce.
“You will talk about that missed chance and he would have been expected to score,” agreed Boro boss Wilder of former Sunderland star Watmore.
“But they also missed a decent chance through Campbell. However, the greedy part of me says we should have won it.
“But the performance was good and, on another day, we might have shaded a win in a tight game.
“We have gone toe-to-toe with a team who will be no doubt be in the play-offs but never felt massively under the cosh.”
Boro remain five points off Stoke whose draw prevented a one place climb above QPR to fifth.
And Potters chief
Michael O’Neill said: “It was a game of few chances and our systems cancelled each other out. We both had good chances in the first half and neither of us took them.”
All the best action came in the opening half. And if Watmore’s miss was a shocker, Campbell’s effort after 30 minutes was almost as bad.
Watmore couldn’t have asked for a better delivery from Isiah Jones. But attempting to scoop the ball in from four yards, he contrived to hit himself with his eventual shot. Campbell should have celebrated the third goal of his promising comeback after a superb defencesplitting Mario Vrancic pass.
Instead, his left-foot effort from the edge of the penalty area, with only keeper Joe Lumley to beat, was a shocker. Then Vrancic’s shot, deflected off Campbell, forced Lumley to concede a corner as Stoke sought a breakthrough.
Boro, beaten only once since Wilder replaced Neil Warnock, finished the first half on top. Adam Davies saved from Andraz Sporar while Matt Crooks, later forced off by injury, blazed high and wide.
Neither side offered much of a goal threat in a
disappointing second period.
STOKE: Davies 6, Wilmot 6, Batth 7, Fox 6, Smith 6, Vrancic 7 (Ince 83), Allen 6, Clucas 6, Tymon 6, Fletcher 5 (Surridge 84), Campbell 7 (Brown 80).
Subs not used: Bonham, Chester, Doughty, Oakley-Boothe.
MIDDLESBROUGH: Lumley 6, Dijksteel 7, Fry 7, McNair 7, Jones 6, Crooks 7 (Bamba 71), Howson 6, Tavernier 6, Bola 6, Sporar 6 (Ikpeazu 88), Watmore 5 (Hernandez 74).
Subs not used: Daniels, Taylor, Payero, Lea Siliki.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Mario Vrancic. Showed plenty of guile, particularly in first half, but team-mates unable to make most of his quality.
REFEREE: Michael Salisbury 7.