Pulis praise for rare goalscorer Fletcher
MIddlesbrougH 5
Assombalonga (47, 70), Friend (50), Wing (63), Fletcher (87)
PeterborougH 0
Tony Pulis praised Ashley Fletcher’s goalscoring impact in Middlesbrough’s win over Peterborough – but admitted he does not know if the striker will still be on Boro’s books by the end of the month.
Fletcher scored Boro’s fifth and final goal as they cruised into the fourth round, but remains a peripheral figure under Pulis, with just one and only Championship start.
Hull are keen to take him to the KCOM Stadium this month, and Pulis revealed that a number of other clubs have also made formal inquiries.
Middlesbrough have already lost Martin Braithwaite this month, having joined Spanish side Leganes on loan, but Fletcher could also be sacrificed as part of a major overhaul.
Pulis said: “What’s his situation? He’s just played a game for us and hopefully that will give him the confidence to move on and improve.
“There’s not just Hull that are interested, there are one or two other clubs as well. Will he stay here? We’ll see what happens.
“It was great that he got his goal, but I thought he played well in the first half, too. I thought Fletch was one of our better players in the first half as well. I’m pleased with him.”
Middlesbrough struggled in the first half, but a tactical tweak at the interval had a major impact, with Lewis Wing replacing debutant Rajiv van La Parra to immediate effect. Britt Assombalonga’s double was
Konstantopoulos 6; McNair 7, Friend 8, Fry 7, Ayala 7; Fletcher 7, Leadbitter 7, Tavernier 7 (Chapman 75, 6), Van La Parra 5 (Wing 46, 7); Gestede 6 (Walker 74, 6), Assombalonga 8. Unused subs – Clayton, Wood-Gordon, Lonergen, Spence.
MIddlesbrougH:
Peterboro:
O’Malley 5; Naismith 5, Lafferty 5, Tafazolli 5, White 5; O’Hara 5 (Godden 58, 5), Woodyard 6, Reed 5 (Cooke 75, 5); Ward 7, Toney 6, Dembele 6 (Cummings 80, 5). Unused subs – Chapman, Bennett, Cooper, Denton. supplemented by strikes from George Friend, Wing and Fletcher.
Pulis said: “Bringing Wingy on, and then pulling him and Grant (Leadbitter) out to play a bit more, sucked them on to us, and then there more spaces for us to play in.
“I think the big thing is we’ve scored five goals, and I’m really pleased with the attitude and application of the players.”
Peterborough boss Steve Evans felt his side did not deserve to finish on the end of a five-goal hiding, with Ivan Toney having missed a glorious first-half chance when the game was still goalless.
Evans said: “I’ll focus on the first 45, we gave them real problems and should have been two or three ahead at halftime. We missed some chances we’d have expected to take.
“You realise Tony is going to have a reaction in the dressing room, they changed the system, but we have to defend properly.
“It’s the best we’ve played in ten months under me (in the first half ). I thought we were terrific, made good chances.” George Friend’s goal, just three minutes after Britt Assombalonga’s opener, virtually wrapped up the win so early on in the second half.
A few players sound like they have given #Boro boss Pulis something to think about.
@paulfraserecho