Ain’t it good to know you’ve got a Friend BORO LEAVE IT SO LATE TO NICK POINT
2 ............ Shots on Target ......... 3 4 ........... Shots off Target ......... 5 3 ............. Blocked Shots .......... 4 6 ................... Corners ................ 6 13 ..................... Fouls ................... 6 1 .................... Offsides ................ 2 3 ............... Yellow Cards ............ 2 0 ................. Red Cards .............. 0 60.1 ... Passing Success %..71.9 14 ................... Tackles ................ 12 92.9 ....... Tackles Won % ..... 75.0 44.5 ....... Possession % ...... 55.5 57.4 ..... Territorial Adv % ..42.6 286 .......... Totalpasses ........ 366 26 ............ Total Crosses ......... 29 38.5 ...... 1st Half Poss % ...... 61.5 50.4 ..... 2nd Half Poss % .... 49.6 TONY PULIS saw his Boro team scramble a point and admitted they have no chance of promotion without serious investment. George Friend’s late leveller gave the Teessiders an unlikely share of the spoils after they had fought back from two down. Friend snatched the point in the seventh minute of stoppage time – nine minutes after Martin Braithwaite had given them a lifeline. But boss Pulis was under no illusions about the performance and admitted there would be no chance of Boro going up without transfers. “We have to put things in perspective,” said the Welshman. “If you look at the team we had – compared to the team we finished with last season – we’re six players down and we’re talking Ben Gibson, Adama Traore, Patrick Bamford, Mo Besic – all top players. So that team was a massive change. We know we have to bring players in because this is a smashing group – but not good enough to get us promoted.
“We’ll have to wait and see how many players we can bring in, but everyone knows it’s important.
“I’m not a manager who throws mud at the wall and hopes it sticks, I want to pick players who are good enough to improve this group. I’m not going to go and get 12, 13 players in and hope one or two might come off.
“I want to get better players in and you have to pick your moments and times, and you hope the players you’ve targeted become available.”
Gibson’s move to Burnley will be completed this weekend, and Pulis added: “I want to thank Ben – Sean Dyche has got a top player.”
Millwall boss Neil Harris was delighted with his players’ performance for the vast majority of
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this game – and rightly so. But he was unhappy with the sloppy finish and livid with referee Kevin Friend over the amount of added time.
He said: “When it got to five minutes, I said, ‘That’s time’, and fair play to the fourth official, he said, ‘There’s another minute because of two yellow cards and a little bit of timewasting’.
“I’ve got no problems with that, we did take our time as well,” he added, laughing.
“But, in that sixth minute, Boro get a free-kick and take their time taking it, they get a throw-in and take their time to allow their centre-halves to get in the box, and, at six minutes, he releases the ball for the throw-in.
“We head it clear and the referee should then blow the whistle, as soon as we make the first contact.
“He doesn’t and, look, we concede the goal because we were sloppy in our defensive play, but the referee going home tonight, does he care? Well, he hasn’t made a mistake, has he? It doesn’t affect his life.
“Ultimately, it affects us and our three points.
“But, let me make it clear, I’m not blaming the referee for us not getting the three points, we shot ourselves in the foot.”
Millwall took the lead when striker Lee Gregory cut the ball back for O’brien to convert.
And there was more bad defending for the second when debutant Aden Flint’s back-header didn’t reach keeper Darren Randolph.
The Boro No.1 might have taken the ball and the player, but Gregory (left, celebrating) stole ahead of him, toe-poked it past him, got up and pushed it into the empty net.
Millwall missed some good chances and were then guilty of some poor defending of their own.
But Pulis added: “I know they’re moaning about the referee and the time.
“But I was actually disappointed it was only seven minutes or so added on.”