Wilder: Boro had no fight
By LINDSAY SUTTON at Deepdale
MIDDLESBROUGH’s players were swept aside at the final hurdle and unhappy boss Chris Wilder admitted: “Everything that could go wrong did.”
Wilder (below) might look ahead to rebuilding, but said of this humiliation: “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”
As it was, even a lastgame victory would have been in vain as results elsewhere went against Boro in a big way.
But their near-6,000 travelling fans at Deepdale gave them a huge final hoorah at the end.
And no one can accuse Ryan Lowe’s Preston side of simply going through the motions in a game that was meaningless for them in terms of league position. 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. “
Preston skipper Alan Browne opened the scoring, chesting down
Brad Potts’ cross and volleying home.
It was 2-0 after Emil Riis struck a shot that the luckless Dael Fry diverted into his own net.
Marcus Tavernier headed a reply for Boro off a deep cross three minutes into the second half.
But any fleeting hopes of a Middlesbrough comeback were stifled when Riis produced a cool chipped finish to make it 3-1 on 53 minutes.
That was the Danish striker’s 19th goal of the season for Preston in all competitions.
The contest was all over bar the shouting when Riis hit goal number 20 with 16 minutes of the game to go.
The 23-year-old scored it from the penalty spot after Paddy McNair had handled near the goal-line.
McNair was red-carded by referee Tim Robinson.
Ten-man Boro weren’t coming back from there and Wilder’s play-offs push ended with a whimper.
PRESTON: Iversen; Van Den Berg 6, Diabe 7 (Huntington 80), Lindsay 6; Potts 7, Browne 8, Whiteman 7 (Ledson 84), McCann 7, Johnson 7; Riis 8 (O’Neill 86), Archer 6.
Subs not used: Ripley, Cunningham, Evans, Maguire.
MIDDLESBROUGH: Daniels 7; Dijksteel 6 (Connolly 66, 6), Fry 6, NcNair 6; Jones 6, Crooks 6, McGree 6, Howson 7, Tavernier 7; Sporar 6 (Coburn 62, 6), Watmore 6 (Balogun 62, 6). Subs not used: Lumley, Peltier, Bamba, Bola.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Emil Riis. Preston’s Danish striker piled on Boro’s final-day agony with his two goals.
REFEREE: Tim Robinson 7