STRUGGLING BORO SHOW TRUE BRITT
On-loan Wells goes from hero to villain
BRITT Assombalonga scored twice for struggling Middlesbrough as they secured a valuable point at QPR.
Boro were staring at another defeat until Nahki Wells’ appalling back pass went straight to Assombalonga, who capitalised by calmly lifting the ball over keeper Joe Lumley.
Wells’ ninth goal of the season had brought Rangers level just after they had fallen behind – and an own goal by Jonny Howson a minute before half-time meant the hosts led at the interval.
After keeper Darren Randolph pushed out Grant Hall’s header, the ball bounced off the unfortunate Howson and into the net.
That seemed to sum up what has been a miserable season for Jonathan Woodgate’s Boro side so far – but they left with a point courtesy of Assombalonga’s 69th-minute equaliser.
Boro had not scored in their previous four matches and Assombalonga had only scored once since August.
But Woodgate said: “I’ve said all along that he will score goals.
“Every striker goes through patches and confidence dips. Stick with it. He’s a goalscorer.
“Stay confident because he will score goals. Back him no matter what. No matter what situation he’s going through, I back my No.9.”
Boro were the better side early on and went ahead through Assombalonga’s 23rdminute opener.
Howson went past Ryan Manning and crossed from the right towards Assombalonga, who got in front of Hall to head beyond Lumley.
Manning made amends by helping to set up a goal just minutes later. He played the ball in to Ilias Chair, whose flick to Wells left the striker with time and space to pick his spot and calmly equalise.
QPR, yet to keep a clean sheet this season, continued to look vulnerable and Lee Wallace, making his home debut, denied Assombalonga with a last-ditch tackle shortly before another Johnson cross was headed straight at Lumley by Marcus Tavernier.
It therefore came as no surprise when Boro opened the scoring. However, Rangers hit back almost immediately and then would have gone ahead had Randolph not produced a fine save by diving to his left to keep out Hall’s header from Ebere Eze’s free-kick.
Another Hall header, this time from Eze’s corner, led to Rangers going in front, but Wells’ appalling lapse and some heroic work by Randolph means they are now without a win in four matches.
QPR manager Mark Warburton defended on-loan Burntwo ley striker Wells, whose goal was his ninth of the season.
“It (the back-pass) didn’t help, but he’s also the man that’s scored a lot of goals for us and got us out of some sticky situations and he’s human,” Warburton said.
“Nahki is a top pro and he came straight into the dressing room and put his hand up for it, but for me it’s not about that.
“He’s human and you learn from your mistake and move on.”