ASSOMBALONGA TIME COMING!
Britt starts for the first time since Boxing Day and finds the punch to KO Blackburn
BRITT ASSOMBALONGA answered the challenge from Tony Pulis to show he can be more than a super sub.
The striker, starting a league game for the first time since Boxing Day, claimed the crucial first-half goal against 10-man Blackburn to keep Middlesbrough in the hunt for promotion after a disappointing run.
And that made it a doubly bitter blow for Rovers boss Tony Mowbray, a legendary former Boro player and manager, who wanted to snap up £15million Assombalonga in last month’s transfer window, only to be priced out of a move.
Not that Pulis was completely satisfied with Assombalonga and his attacking team-mates.
Pulis said: “We’ve had 27 shots on goal and scored one. That’s been our Achilles heel since I came to the club.
“We’ve got to be more ruthless in front of goal because we played really well at times, controlled the game and created chances.
“But after the run we have had and with the injuries and suspensions we’ve had, you can get a little bit down on yourself.
“We wanted to be positive today and the lads showed great character.”
Boro stormed into a deserved 19th-minute lead and, when Rovers were reduced to 10 men on the stroke of half-time, it became an even more uphill task for Mowbray’s side.
The men from the Riverside had been turning the screw even before their opener, brought about when Charlie Mulgrew misjudged the awkward bounce of Lewis Wing’s through ball.
That let in Ashley Fletcher whose shot took a deflection off Jack Rodwell and looped up at the far post where Assombalonga headed in.
With Rovers looking to avoid a fourth consecutive defeat for the first time in Mowbray’s two years in charge at Ewood Park, it was hardly a perfect start.
And when Derrick Williams made a clumsy foul to stop Fletcher surging through, on the edge of the Rovers area just before the break, it became even more difficult.
Referee Darren Bond had little choice but to show the Rovers left-back a straight red, although Mowbray at least made an aggressive response when he used all three of his subs in a drastic half-time reshuffle.
One of those replacements, Amari’i Bell, whipped in a dangerous cross that Ryan Shotton slid in to turn inches wide of his own goal.
But Boro had looked every bit as dangerous with Wing clattering a second-half shot against the bar from 30 yards.
In fact, Boro should have put the game out of sight in a dominant first-half display.
Mowbray reflected: “I couldn’t recognise my team in that first half, that was unacceptable. I don’t know where that came from. We lacked fire, desire, energy. That’s the frustration.”