Carrick proving a hard taskmaster
Middlesbrough manager Michael Carrick demanded more from his players after they moved back into the playoff places with another win.
Matt Crooks’ brace and Chuba Akpom’s late strike earned a deserved victory at birmingham four days after boro’s 2-1 win at third-placed blackburn.
Tahith Chong pulled a goal back for birmingham to give them hope before Akpom rubber- stamped boro’s sixth win in their last seven games — and fourth since the Championship resumed after the break for the World Cup.
Former Manchester united midfielder Carrick has lifted boro from fourth bottom to fifth since being appointed to replace Chris Wilder in october but told his players they cannot let up.
he said: ‘it’s never enough, we said that at half-time and after the game. i’m really proud of the lads but it’s never enough.
‘ We have to keep pushing and there is half the season to go. i’m enjoying it, it’s a great place for me to be every day. We have great spirit and we have to keep building on that.
‘You can look both ways at the table because there is not much there. You have to see it in a positive way but there is no point looking at the league just yet, nothing has finished. Now it seems like it is compacted even more, we see that as an opportunity.’
boro controlled the game but had to wait until the 57th minute for the opener when the unmarked Crooks headed in Jonny howson’s cross. Two minutes later the midfielder made it 2-0, running on to score after george Friend made a mess of a high ball. birmingham thought they had found a way back when Chong nodded in with 16 minutes left only for Akpom to wrap up the points.
Akpom, the Championship’s top scorer with 13 goals, netted his ninth in 10 games when he ran on to Crooks’ perfect pass to round John ruddy and score.
birmingham have now lost three games on the trot, after defeats by leaders burnley and hull after Christmas, to drop to 17th. Manager John eustace said: ‘We’ve had a really tough week but we have to put things in perspective.
‘it’s the first week we have had problems. it’s been a fantastic six months, the boys have possibly overachieved but this week has been a difficult three games.
‘We are down to the bare bones. We have injuries to our top players. but i said we would have ups and downs. The attitude of the boys was very good, they kept going. i was really pleased with the effort of the group. We made it difficult for Middlesbrough but the goals we conceded were very sloppy.’