Attacking spark is missing once more as travel woes continue
MIDDLESBROUGH’S awayday woes continued at Millwall as they lost 2-0 in a performance symptomatic of their problems away from the Riverside this season.
Zian Flemming netted within five minutes of both halves starting to seal the home side’s victory as Boro lacked conviction in attack once more.
Not since early April have the Teessiders won on the road in a run stretching back to last season. This was their sixth attempt of this season.
Millwall can be a tough place to come to at the best of times without going behind in the manner Boro did in just the fifth minute of the game.
Paddy Mcnair conceded a soft free-kick which Zian Flemming shanked, only to have the fortune of it deflecting off the Boro wall and wrong-footing Zack Steffen, who was unable to shuffle his feet and get back across as the ball trickled into the bottom corner.
Flemming very nearly doubled the hosts’ lead less than two minutes later when he was left unmarked in the box. The cross found him but his header was wasted as he put it over the bar.
This was the fifth time this season Boro had fallen behind away from home, which makes it easy to understand why they have waited so long for a victory on the road.
In their defence here, the goal was fortuitous and there were suspicions the ball had gone out of play before the free-kick too.
Their recovery was good, though. Rather than crumble under the hostile atmosphere, the visitors grew into the game and gained the ascendancy for much of the first half.
In a game which just about summed up Boro’s fortunes on the road in recent months, however, having fallen behind early they then had more of the ball but just lacked the quality in the final third to get themselves an equaliser before half-time.
They were restricted to half chances at best, Matt Crooks firing over on the volley from one of the better chances, while Rodrigo Muniz ought to have
done better with one free headed opportunity at the back post.
In general, though, Boro struggled to carve open a stubborn Millwall defence because too often the final pass or cross was lacking, the bravery of any player to take matters into their own hands to do something and the movement was all just found wanting. In summary, just like last weekend at Coventry City, they lacked conviction.
They were fortunate not to be punished when Millwall had the final chance of the half.
An Andreas Voglsammer effort from range was straight at Steffen but he spilled it into the path of Tom Bradshaw, the Lions striker reacting quicker than anyone else.
Steffen, to his credit, held his nerve, spread himself well and made an excellent block to get himself out of jail.
Boro were punished just four minutes after the restart.
Matt Crooks was unable to win an aerial 50-50 on the edge of Boro’s box and the flicked header found Flemming unmarked at the back post, with Isaiah Jones seemingly caught too high up the pitch.
There was no fortune this time as the Millwall number 10 hammered home from close range. From there it was game management as far as the hosts were concerned and, with the game lacking flow or rhythm, Boro found themselves struggling for inspiration from any individual.
They ultimately just lacked a bit of magic or someone to get hold of the ball, be brave and say: “I’m going to do something here”.
Interim boss Percovich tried to influence matters with his substitutions. He threw on the more positive-minded Anfernee Dijksteel, Hayden Hackney, Ryan Giles, Marcus Forss and Matthew Hoppe at various stages. Not one managed to spark any life into Boro, however.
With the game ultimately ticking away with a whimper, with five minutes left Hoppe had a half chance as he hit one low from the edge of the box.
George Long got down to save it and Boro fans sarcastically celebrated with a chant of “We’ve had a shot!”
That just about summed up how poor it was from an attacking point of view.
With the club expected to appoint a new manager before next weekend’s home clash with Blackburn Rovers, there is plenty of work to be done.