Irate Aitor sent to the stands
IT WAS the story of the two goalkeepers at the Riverside Stadium, where Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka was left fuming by Rudy Gestede’s equaliser deep into stoppage-time.
Boro had looked like they had done enough to secure the win their performance deserved when Patrick Bamford powered in the opener with seven minutes remaining.
But Middlesbrough were prevented from climbing into the Championship’s top two when referee Mark Clattenburg allowed Gestede’s late goal to stand.
The Benin international finished things off when Middlesbrough goalkeeper Dimi Konstantopoulos failed to make a catch in his area when he appeared to be shoved in the back by striker Chris Brown.
While Konstantopoulos received treatment in his box, Middlesbrough’s players protested to the referee and Karanka and his backroom team had words to say to fourth official David Coote, earning the Spaniard a seat in the stands.
He said: “It’s very frustrating. I would like to apologise because my behaviour was not good and Middlesbrough Football Club deserves better from me.
“But it was tough to take because we had worked so hard for 93 minutes and what we had worked so hard for was almost in our grasp.
“I was sent to the stands for pushing the fourth official but I was arguing with him, not touching him. I thought the goal should have been disallowed for a foul on the keeper.”
Blackburn boss Gary Bowyer was not as concerned and just relieved that his team had extended an unbeaten run to nine games.
He said: “I only saw the equaliser in real time. There was some commotion about it in real time and I saw Boro weren’t happy about it but I wasn’t concentrating on their goalkeeper. I was concentrat- ing on the ball going into the back of the net.”
Middlesbrough found Blackburn ‘keeper Simon Eastwood, making his first appearance since January, in fine form.
He made save after save but the one on the hour was top class. Eastwood turned behind a bullet header from Jelle Vossen when it looked a certain goal.
Bowyer said: “Simon Eastwood’s save to stop Vossen was unbelievable and it was save of the season for me. It had goal written all over it. It was bang on the head from close range but he never gave up on it.”
And Karanka thinks Eastwood’s performance highlighted which team deserved to win. He said:“It said everything that their man of the match was their keeper, but Patrick looked very impressive too and I can only see him getting better every day.
“We did everything well. The problem was their goal and I don’t think the goal should have stood.”
Bamford scored his fourth goal in five games by making the most of a badly-dealt-with corner which dropped to him in the penalty area. His shot took a deflection and finally beat the goalkeeper.
Middlesbrough have now drawn their last three games but remain firmly in the hunt for an automatic promotion spot.
Bowyer concluded: “The resilience of our side was great. We had the first chance and we hit the post late on and we got the benefit of our attitude.”