PAUNOVIC: DRAW FEELS LIKE A LOSS
Boro boss in hunt for
VELJKO Paunovic was disappointed to take only a point at Nottingham Forest in a game he felt his side should have won – and frustrated to see Reading concede their first goal in four matches.
Sub Yakou Meite earned Reading a share of the spoils with an 81st-minute equaliser, which cancelled out an own goal from Tom Holmes, four minutes after the interval.
The play-off chasing Royals looked more likely to win the game late on, with Holmes heading a decent chance wide.
“I am not happy about ending our run of three clean sheets. That is something we will have to look at,” said the Reading boss. “But we reacted well to that; we created so many opportunities. We could have won the game.
“The equaliser came very late. We spent so much energy trying to get it. But even after that, we had pressure. But we were not clinical and that was the key.
“I am happy with the attitude, with our identity and character. But I am not happy with the draw. I cannot help it, but it feels as though we lost the game.”
The match burst into life when Gaetan Bong whipped in a cross to pick out Glenn Murray. He conjured up a clever flick, but goalkeeper Rafael Cabral clawed it away.
Joe Lolley lashed a shot wide for Forest, who then had a let off when a corner routine ended with a great chance for Lucas Joao. He failed to properly connect with a shot but, as it dribbled towards goal, he almost caught up with the ball, before seeing it bounce off a post.
The second half began with Michael Olise’s free-kick saved by Brice Samba. Forest responded immediately as Filip Krovinovic headed an Anthony Knockaert cross into the side netting.
Forest did take the lead in the 49th minute, after James Garner had picked out Sammy Ameobi with a fine ball out to the right. The winger beat Omar Richards, before lashing a low ball across goal. Murray and defender Holmes stretched to connect and the defender just got the final touch.
George Puscas missed a great chance to draw level as he fired over, before keeper Cabral had to make a smart save from Ameobi.
Andy Yiadom was denied by a post as Reading pushed for an equaliser. Joao had a role to play in the Reading equaliser as he picked out Meite, who beat Samba with a fine strike.
Holmes might have won it for the visitors, but he sent a free header wide at the far post.
Forest manager Chris Hughton was satisfied with a point. “I think we are happy in the end. We had a period where I felt we were going to hold on for the win. They made offensive changes and they have very good players,” said Hughton. “But I thought we were always in it.
“I still thought we were going to win it; I thought we would stay strong. But they have quality and sometimes you have to appreciate that, with the quality they have in front of goal, it was another game where we have not conceded a lot of goals.
“The question is whether we can go on and win these games – and that is the next part for us.”
play-offs
NEIL Warnock is determined to keep Middlesbrough in the play-off picture after a much-needed win over Stoke.
Barnsley’s victory at rivals for a top-six spot, Bournemouth, means Boro remain eight points shy of sixth place with ten matches remaining.
The next of those is when Preston North End travel to Teesside on Tuesday night, and Warnock wants to make sure Middlesbrough make it back-to-back wins.
Warnock said: “We had to win today. We dominated certain areas and broke quickly. Even in the second half we broke at pace and could have had a few more.
“We just have ten games left and we have to win every one of them; we have to try to win every game.
“We are capable of winning every game, but we are capable of losing them too with inconsistencies.”
Middlesbrough’s poor recent home form encouraged Stoke to go on the offensive from the first whistle and Jacob Brown was inches away from putting the visitors in front when his cross hit a post 22 seconds in.
But Middlesbrough went ahead against the run of play with the first serious threat to Angus Gunn’s goal.
Chuba Akpom brilliantly flicked Marc Bola’s corner on at the near post, and Grant Hall was quick to pounce ahead of Tommy Smith to sidefoot the opener over the line from close range.
Stoke continued to enjoy plenty of the ball without really threatening, and Paddy McNair added the second in style. He took a touch before opening his body up and rolling inside the far corner after Yannick Bolasie had played him in down the left.
Stoke didn’t do enough in an attacking sense until the closing stages.
Middlesbrough invited more pressure by appearing to be satisfied with their lot, and Marcus Bettinelli made an important strong-handed stop from Steven Fletcher’s volley to keep the two up.
But with two minutes remaining Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, seven minutes after coming on, chipped Gunn to seal the win after Sam Morsy’s breakaway and pass rolled him in with just the keeper to beat.
Middlesbrough’s goals inflicted a fourth defeat in five matches on mid-table Stoke and manager Michael O’Neill was frustrated at the way things panned out.
The Potters were the better team in the opening exchanges, but once Warnock changed the system and Hall opened the scoring there was no way back.
Stoke boss O’Neill, whose side slipped to 11th spot, five points behind Middlesbrough, said: “I’m extremely disappointed with the result. I thought we controlled parts of the game.
“But we defended the corner poorly for the first goal and then it was a difficult game for us.
“They will slow the game down. We didn’t defend it well enough. We just didn’t do enough when we had the ball.
“We had no cutting edge. We had nothing in the final third, it is very difficult to win the game like that.”
VALERIEN Ismael is refusing to dream of playing in the Premier League – despite seeing his Barnsley side extend their unbeaten run to 11 matches with a brilliant comeback victory over Bournemouth.
Super sub Carlton Morris climbed off the bench to head in the deciding goal ten minutes from time as the in-form Tykes battled from 2-1 down at half-time to claim an eighth win in nine matches.
The triumph cemented Barnsley’s spot in the playoffs and opened up a five-point cushion on seventh-placed Bournemouth.
But boss Ismael refused to get carried away with promotion talk.
“We are not dreaming,” he said.
“Our feet are firmly on the ground and we know there are still ten games to play and a lot of points to be won.
“We showed big mentality. It was a big fight and we made a big step forward.
“We made two idiotic mistakes to concede two goals, especially the second one, but we made some changes at half time and the bench made a big difference today.”
The Cherries dominated possession in the early exchanges, but it was Barnsley who took the lead against the run of play after 16 minutes.
Michal Helik was on hand to tap in at the far post after Callum Brittain’s corner had been nodded across the six-yard box by Mads Andersen.
Bournemouth hit back just six minutes later when Arnaut Danjuma swept in Junior Stanislas’ cut-back.
Jefferson Lerma’s goal-bound effort from just inside the penalty area was then diverted behind for a corner by Helik.
But Dominic Solanke did put them in front in first-half injury time by sliding in at the far post to turn in Danjuma’s perfectly-weighted pass.
Barnsley made a triple change at half-time, bringing on Herbie Kane, Callum Styles and Morris.
Kane almost made an instant impact, but his longrange shot was saved by home keeper Asmir Begovic.
But Barnsley were back on level on the hour mark when Dominik Frieser finished neatly from ten yards after a Cauley Woodrow cross had been deflected into his path.
Tykes substitute Morris then headed wide from captain Alex Mowatt’s pinpoint cross when he should have at least hit the target.
Kane also drew a good flying save from Begovic with a curling free-kick 17 minutes from time.
But they did find a deserved winner ten minutes from time when Morris grabbed his fifth goal since signing from Norwich.
He towered above a static Bournemouth defence to meet Mowatt’s free-kick and send a looping header into the top left corner of Begovic’s goal.
Bournemouth boss Jonathan Woodgate slammed his side’s “unacceptable” display. “It was two different Bournemouth teams; one in the first half that wanted to fight and one in the second half that did not want to do it,” Woodgate said.
“That is not acceptable. Games are not for 45 minutes; they are for 90 minutes. They wanted it more than us.”