Stuani steps up to break Oxford hearts
For Michael Appleton, the overriding emotion was one of frustration after his Oxford United side came within four minutes of a place in the draw for the sixth round of the FA Cup.
A replay, and with it the club’s furthest progression in the competition since a side containing a certain Ron Atkinson reached that stage 53 years ago, beckoned after the League One side wiped out a two-goal deficit in the space of 60 dramatic seconds before Cristhian Stuani, a man with a track record of scoring important goals, popped up at the far post to add another to his collection as he steered home a late winner which rather flattered the hosts.
“I thought there was only going to be one team going to win it when we levelled,” reflected Appleton, whose side looked in danger of being on the wrong end of an embarrassing scoreline after falling two goals behind 10 minutes before the interval.
The Oxford manager added: “I’m very proud of my players, and I suppose tomorrow at some point I’ll probably feel even more proud, but at the moment I’m just really frustrated. To concede a goal like we did to lose it was hard to take. In many ways it was a League One goal, not a Premier League goal because they didn’t play through us.”
Fabio crossed, Álvaro Negredo applied an unwitting touch as he wrestled with his marker Curtis Nelson and there was Stuani, scorer of the goal against Brighton here in May which clinched promotion, to apply a closerange finish.
“Negredo was grabbing Curtis to stop him attacking the ball so we’ve got issues with the winning goal,” said Appleton, who praised Middlesbrough supporters for the way they stuck with their side in the wake of Oxford’s unlikely comeback after the hour. They had every right to question the capitulation as Chris Maguire, a ubiquitous figure throughout a pulsating contest, halved the deficit by curling in a 20yard free-kick after Adama Traoré’s foul on Phil Edwards.
Barely had Oxford’s 3,300 travelling fans had time to compute such a memorable occurrence when Toni Martínez followed up to stab the ball home from six yards after Brad Guzan parried Maguire’s shot.
“We had the game completely under control,” Aitor Karanka insisted as he prepares for today’s draw, the first time Middlesbrough have reached this stage since 2009. “Give Oxford credit for the way they came back. It shows the dangers of thinking the game is over.”
With a comfortable two-goal lead at the interval, they could be forgiven for thinking just that. The contest swung decisively the way of the Premier League side in two pivotal moments just after the half-hour, when Oxford thought they had cancelled out Grant Leadbitter’s 26th-minute penalty courtesy of Maguire’s angled drive from 20 yards. Celebrations were short-lived, however, with referee Andre Marriner ruling the effort out due to Kane Hemmings’s push on Bernardo.
Within two minutes, Middlesbrough had doubled their lead, Rudy Gestede scoring for the first time since a £6 million move last month from Aston Villa with a fine scissor-kick after Traoré’s knockback from Fabio’s cross found the Middlesbrough forward via a fortuitous ricochet off Nelson.
Leadbitter put the hosts ahead with an emphatic spot-kick after Maguire’s clumsy challenge on Stewart Downing, the midfielder who played an influential role in his side’s victory.
The visitors spurned their clearest opening with barely a minute on the clock, Martínez, the forward on loan from West Ham, easily brushing off Bernardo to run through on goal unimpeded before firing straight at Guzan. A simple square pass would have provided Hemmings with an unguarded net into which to roll his fifth goal of an eventful Cup run – of which all thoughts will have to be quickly banished with Tuesday’s trip to Charlton on the horizon in the pursuit of a top-six finish.
“We’ve got another 16 cup finals to look forward to,” said Appleton, whose side are also in the semi-finals of the EFL Trophy. “We’ll probably need to win 10 of those to have anything to show for our efforts, but if we can string together performances like this, then we’ve got a chance.”