Clever Boro punish sad Robins
FIRST-HALF goals from Martin Braithwaite and Britt Assombalonga kept Middlesbrough flying high at the top of the table with a win at Bristol City.
But Boro boss Tony Pulis knows it is very early days and continues to speak of the need to strengthen his squad for a concerted bid to return to the Premier League.
“We need to bring in more quality players for what is a hugely tough division,” said Pulis.
“We have started okay, but you are talking about playing three games a week 14 times over the course of the season.
“In the first half we restricted Bristol City to very little and scored two good goals. Braithwaite’s anticipation for the first was the sort of thing inborn in strikers, while Stewart Downing has done brilliantly for the second in standing the ball up at the far post.”
The visitors went ahead after 13 minutes through a dreadful error by City rightback Jack Hunt. He was guilty of a woeful miskick inside his own box that allowed Braithwaite in to slide a right-footed shot past Niki Maenpaa from 10 yards.
It was 2-0 after 32 minutes as Stewart Downing was allowed space on the right of the penalty area to produce a delicate far-post cross, which begged to be headed in. Assombalonga climbed above Hunt to provide the finishing touch.
City only came to life as an attacking force in the closing stages when they struck the crossbar twice through an Eros Pisano header and a Josh Brownhill shot.
But it was too little, too late from Lee Johnson’s men, who were booed off by their own fans at half-time after a tepid display.
Johnson said: “I thought we deserved more from our previous two games, but that certainly wasn’t the case here.
“You have to start with the first goal, which was a joke from our perspective. I have watched it back and more than one player was at fault. It was so soft, it wasn’t true.
“When we were at our best last season we had a strong platform at the back and everything else goes from there.
“We didn’t have that in this game and nothing else really matters. We played some okay football, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t defend properly.”
There was plenty of neat inter-passing between City’s players, but rarely did they threaten to break down a well-organised Boro defence.
City looked to step up their game at the start of the second half. Pisano shot over from a narrow angle, while Paterson’s 20-yard drive brought a fine save from Darren Randolph.
At the other end Downing fired over from distance and George Friend was off-target with a header from a corner.
Braithwaite should have had a second goal on the hour, beating City’s offside trap only to shoot into the side-netting with just Maenpaa to beat.
After Johnson had used all three substitutes City at last put concerted pressure on the Boro goal. But, while the woodwork twice came to the visitors’ rescue, they were well deserving of the points.