Boro face tough task against play-off dark horses Preston
IT WAS against this evening’s opponents that Tony Pulis secured his first victory as Middlesbrough manager on New Year’s Day 2018.
A repeat against an in-form Preston North End side tonight would be equally as welcome for the Welshman.
Having harboured outside hopes of embarking upon a late push for the top two a few weeks ago, Boro are now minding the gap beneath them with the forthcoming games exposing that risk.
After facing Preston, who are unbeaten in the Championship since January 1 and have the distinct look of play-off dark horses, the Teesside club must then visit bogey side Aston Villa – another TONY PULIS: Has seen his Middlesbrough side win just once on home soil this calendar year.
team who hold top-six aspirations – at the weekend.
Following that appointment at Villa Park, Boro face similar testing assignments with Norwich City and Bristol City, with the crux of the club’s season appearing to be approaching.
Preston head into tonight’s game on the back of a five-match winning sequence – their best at this level since 1950-51 – and represent dangerous opponents for Boro, who have won just once in the league on home soil in 2019.
They also have, in Alex Neil, a figure who dashed Boro’s promotion hopes in the Championship play-off final while in charge of Norwich, in May 2015, and they head to Teesside with major momentum.
But Neil warned: “It is going to be tough. I have seen Middlesbrough play in different ways.
“I have seen them play when they have been really aggressive and have seen other games where they have scored a goal and been a bit more defensive.” IT HAS been somewhat of a fluctuating week in the career of Rotherham United captain Will Vaulks.
After dismissal in Saturday’s derby at Sheffield United Vaulks has been afforded a first call-up to the Wales senior squad to help soften the personal blow of his sending-off at Bramall Lane.
Elated he may be at his selection for the Wales squad who host Trinidad and Tobago in a friendly in Wrexham on March 20 and a Euro 2020 qualifier against Slovakia in Cardiff four days later, but Vaulks must sit out the Millers’ next three engagements at a critical juncture in their season, starting at Loftus Road. WILL VAULKS:
It is domestic not international matters that Vaulks will concern himself with tonight as he serves as an unofficial cheerleader in the dressing room as the Millers seek their first win at QPR since November 1951 and only the second in their history.
Wirral-born Vaulks, who
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K Stroud (Hampshire). Middlesbrough 0 Preston 0; August 26, 2017; Championship.