Counted out
BORO IN DEEPDALE NIGHTMARE
MIDDLESBROUGH’S dejected players were swept aside at the final countdown – and boss Chris Wilder admitted: “Everything that could go wrong did”.
Wilder might look ahead to rebuilding, but said of this humiliation at Preston: “They were better than us all over the pitch. Our fight should have been bigger than theirs, but it wasn’t.
“Players have to turn up and play, but they didn’t, except for Jonny Howson.
“Their back three dominated our front two. There was little consolation anywhere.
“We went into our shells, made poor decisions, and we were not organised.
“These players managed to turn our season round earlier on – but when push came to shove, we just weren’t there.”
Even a last-game victory would have been in vain as results elsewhere went against them in a big way. But at least their near-6,000 supporters travelling to Deepdale gave them a huge final hurrah at the end.
No one can accuse Ryan Lowe’s Preston side of going through the motions in a game that was meaningless for them in terms of position in the league.
Lowe said: “It’s crazy. That was our best performance of the season. We have that in our locker.
“It’s just what I needed to leave the season on a high. Now we look ahead to the comings and goings, and strengthening for next season. “
Goals by skipper Alan Browne, two by Emil Riis and an own goal by Dael Fry did the damage, irrespective of what was happening elsewhere.
Yet Boro gave their all at the start and after a quick burst of speed by star man Howson, it took alert North End keeper Daniel Iversen to snatch the ball away from the lurking Andraz Sporar.
At the other end, striker Riis was only denied by a one-handed save by keeper Luke Daniels, who then kept out a Bambo Diaby header.
But there was nothing he could do about Browne’s strike.
The seasoned Irish international had watched an effort by Ben Whiteman put over by Daniels but from the corner the ball was worked to Browne by Diaby and Brad Potts and he turned to hammer a right-foot half-volley into the net.
Still the pressure mounted on Boro as a tricky Daniel Johnson corner sneaked over the goalline, only for referee Tim Robinson to rule it out for a foul on keeper Daniels right on the goal-line.
But a minute later, Preston were actually two up, courtesy of an own goal blooper by Fry.
That man Riis drilled a low, hard effort into the mix from the left only for the ball to hit Fry and deflect into his own net.
Marcus Tavernier pulled one back just after the break but within minutes Riis hit his 20th goal of the season to wrap things up when Paddy McNair handled near the goal-line and was red-carded by Robinson.
Up stepped trusty Riis to take the resulting penalty and crack home his second goal of the game.
PRESTON: Iversen 6; Van Den Berg 6, Diabe 7 (Huntington 80th), Lindsay 6; Potts 7, Brown 8, Whiteman 7 (Ledson 84th), McCann 7, Johnson 7; Riis 8 (O’Neill 86th), Archer 6
MIDDLESBROUGH: Daniels 7; Dijksteel 6 (Connolly (66th) 6), Fry 6, NcNair 6; Jones 6, Crooks 6, McGree 6, Howson 7, Tavernier 7; Sporar 6 (Coburn (62nd) 6), Watmore 6 (Balogun (62nd) 6)
STAR MAN: Emil Riis T Robinson