Blow to Monk’s preparations

MIDDLESBROUGH were beaten by League One Rochdale in their penultimate pre-season friendly of the summer.

Dani Ayala’s first-half own goal and Ollie Rathbone’s late strike separated the teams at the Crown Oil Stadium and gave new manager Garry Monk plenty of food for thought with less than two weeks to go before the start of the Championship season.

Life certainly isn’t dull at Boro these days, even if yesterday’s game was an encounter to forget.

The past week or so has seen the arrival of Martin Braithwaite, Britt Assombalonga, Connor Roberts and, just an hour before kick-off at Rochdale, keeper Darren Randolph.

The £5m capture from West Ham wasn’t in the Boro Starting XI at Spotland for the club’s fourth friendly of the summer but new boys Braithwaite and Roberts were.

Monk named a strong team to take on the League One side, with Rudy Gestede chosen to lead the line up front while Assombalonga had to make do with a place on the bench, eventually making his debut after the break.

Braithwaite was joined in the attacking midfield positions talented rookie Marcus Tavernier and rapid Spaniard Adama Traore.

In the defensive midfield positions, Adam Clayton partnered Marten de Roon, while the back four featured Roberts on the right, Fabio on the left and Ben Gibson alongside Ayala in the centre.

Connor Ripley, who faces a battle with Randolph and Dimi Konstantopoulos for the No1 spot, started in goal. Those looking for clues as to who’ll play where next season will have noted that Braithwaite played in the No10 posi- tion with Traore on the right and Tavernier on the left.

Not that any of Boro’s players stood out in the opening stages of a tight, competitive first half.

Rochdale didn’t give their Championship opponents any time on the ball. They tackled and harried and starved Monk’s men of space to create and, as a result, attempts on goal were at a premium.

The hosts had the first punt on goal with Jordan Williams firing over from distance in the fourth minute.

Then, six minutes later, Callum Camps drilled a direct free-kick wastefully wide of the target.

Boro suffered a major blow on the quarter-hour mark when Gibson walked off with blood streaming from his nose following an aerial challenge outside his own penalty area.

Dael Fry replaced the skipper with Clayton taking the armband.

Tavernier looked a threat on the ball and the teenager won a free-kick on the left side of the Rochdale box in the 19th minute.

Clayton took it but delivered the ball too close to keeper Josh Lillis, who saved comfortably.

Just before the half hour mark, Andy Cannon executed a smart drag back and turn before poking a decent shot over Ripley’s crossbar.

Then minutes before the break, Can- non had another dip at goal, this time unleashing a quality shot that flashed over the Boro bar.

The visitors finally managed a shot worthy of the name in the 42nd minute when Braithwaite tried to place a rightfoot shot wide of the keeper but his effort lacked pace and Lillis saved with relative ease.

A minute later Traore dribbled to the edge of the Rochdale box, tried a couple of step-overs and then hit a low shot straight at the keeper.

Monk made two changes at halftime, replacing Gestede with Assombalonga and switching George Friend for Fabio. But the subs were unable to stop Rochdale taking a 51st minute lead.

The goal stemmed from a free-kick conceded down the Boro right by Roberts and Allen delivered a powerful ball into the box which deflected off Ayala’s head into the net.

The defender was presumably unsighted and, after the ball crossed the line, he certainly looked mystified as to how he’d managed to score an own goal.

Ten minutes after the interval, de Roon was booked for a late challenge on Ollie Rathbone and, three minutes later, Monk made another change, replacing Tavernier with Harry Chapman.

Boro were struggling for any kind of fluency as a unit but they did create a chance just before the hour mark when Clayton hit a fine free-kick for Assombalonga, whose glancing header flashed wide of the far post.

The pair linked up again in the 64th minute, this time with Clayton sending over a corner from the left which Assombalonga met with a clever flicked header that dropped narrowly over the bar.

Ten minutes later a Boro attack ended with Braithwaite slicing a shot over the bar under pressure inside the Rochdale penalty area.

Monk made his fifth and final outfield change in 75th minute when he sent on Mikael Soisalo for Traore, who’d struggled to make any kind of impact.

But it was Rochdale who had the final say by doubling their lead in the 87th minute when Rathbone found a yard of space on the edge of the Boro box and fired in a low shot that beat Ripley for pace.

Monk has just one more 90 minute run out remaining – Augsburg at the Riverside on Saturday – to identify an effective first XI before the curtain-raiser at Wolves on August 5.