MICK EXTENDS UNBEATEN RUN
CARDIFF City extended their unbeaten run under Mick McCarthy to nine games. It is quite an astonishing turnaround from where they were halfway through January, with McCarthy yet to experience defeat as City boss.
Sean Morrison scored from a long throw against the run of play in the first half on Teesside, however Paddy McNair popped up late on for Boro to earn Neil Warnock’s side a deserved point.
Here are the big talking points after the match...
MCCARTHY’S WOLVES AND SUNDERLAND COMPARISONS
McCarthy has experienced promotion to the Premier League twice before, with Wolves and Sunderland.
He is an anomaly in the modern era in so much as he is one of the few managers who tends to stay in each of his jobs for years – many now have stints where they last just months or a season at best.
But McCarthy has worked wonders elsewhere and that is why City believed he is the best man for the job.
He staved off relegation, which was his first port of call, but now tentative eyes are zeroing in on an unlikely promotion push.
Having achieved promotion before, does McCarthy see comparisons between this City outfit and his Wolves and Sunderland sides?
“The comparisons they’ve got is that they’ve got that real work ethic, a determination, a real collective team spirit,” McCarthy said after the match.
“And then they’ve got that bit of quality, with Harry (Wilson), Josh (Murphy) and Kieffer Moore, who has been getting his goals. Sheyi (Ojo) and Leandro (Bacuna), Jonny Williams on the bench. It’s a recipe for winning games, if you’ve got that.
“But having to come to Middlesbrough and play like we have today, it was a war of attrition.
“But I’m not bothered, we’ve come away and we’ve taken a point.”
UGLY SCRAP SHOWS PROMOTION METTLE
In this league, probably more than any other, being able to scrap tooth and nail for even a point sometimes can make the world of difference.
You have to ask yourself, at the beginning of the season, would Cardiff have got a point from that game? I don’t think they would have.
Yes, there was a six-game winning streak before the trip to the Riverside, a remarkable run which, albeit for only a few days, catapulted City into the play-off spots.
There was always going to be a blip, though, they were never going to win their last 20 games of the season.
What is important is how you manage the games going against you, especially at this stage of the season.
And being able to stand toe to toe with a quality, wily Warnock side away from home and to come away with a point is a very encouraging sign.
“I was asked what it takes to get promotion, being able to scrap it out sometimes is certainly one of the things that is needed and desired,” McCarthy said.
LEGGY BLUEBIRDS DUE A CHANGE UP
There is always an age-old dilemma about whether to change a winning team in favour of fresh legs or stick with a side who have won you so many games on the spin.
McCarthy opted for an unchanged XI for the fifth game in a row and it just began to show a little, especially in the second half.
Cardiff have been excellent over the last month and McCarthy rewarded those players by selecting them again for the trip to Boro.
But McCarthy dismissed any notion that tiredness played a part in Cardiff being unable to seal a win.
“I knew if we didn’t win then someone would ask me the question!” McCarthy said.
“If I’d had changed it and got beat then you would have said to me, ‘Oh well you changed a winning team and got beat’. So pick the bones out of that.”
It has been a strenuous week for this City side, having travelled to the South Coast for a game against Bournemouth on Wednesday before heading north for Saturday’s clash with Boro. There are a lot of miles under the belt there, but McCarthy also refused to blame the, at times tired, performance on arduous motorway journeys.
“I’m not going to sit here and blame that,” McCarthy said. “Is it harder to play Wednesday-Saturday than Tuesday-Saturday? Probably.
“But Neil has just played the same team for three games and he changed his team today to match us up.
“I didn’t see any signs of fatigue or tiredness, no, the lads have been brilliant.”
CALLUM Sheedy says Wales knew that England’s discipline would crack “if we could choke them enough” after he put the boot into Eddie Jones’ team.
England conceded a damaging 14 penalties in their 40-24 Guinness Six Nations defeat at the Principality Stadium.
And they imploded during the final quarter when substitute Sheedy kicked three penalties in nine minutes during a 16-point unanswered burst by Wales that meant Triple Crown glory and left them two wins away from a second Grand Slam in three seasons.
“It’s tough to say whether you are surprised teams give away penalties,” Bristol fly-half Sheedy said.
“It is like anything – if a team is under pressure, discipline starts to get a bit wavy.
“I haven’t watched the game back and whether they were, or were not, penalties. I don’t really care, to be honest.
“We knew if we could choke them enough, they would get ill-disciplined. Thankfully, that happened.”
While England begin to pick through the pieces of a Six Nations campaign in rubble, Wales march on with 14 points from a possible 15 in this season’s competition.
Tournament no-hopers Italy are next up on March 13, before Sheedy and company head to Paris for a Saturday night appointment with France seven days later.
Victories in both games would secure a fifth Six Nations clean sweep and sixth title, but Sheedy knows how quickly things can change – for better or worse.
“I couldn’t kick snow off a rope two weeks ago (against Scotland), according to the public, and now I will probably be a decent kicker!” he added.
“The people who build you up are the same people who shoot you down. You’ve got to take it with a pinch of salt.
“I hope the Welsh people enjoy this win, as they should. In tough, testing times, it’s great to get a win over England, and they should enjoy every minute of it.”
Sheedy is just seven Tests into his international career, yet he has already proved an integral part of Wales’ armoury under head coach Wayne Pivac.
And the 25-year-old has been around long enough to understand that this season’s big Six Nations prizes are still to be achieved.
“Let’s take each game as it comes and not get carried away with Grand Slam chat,” he said. “We will keep our feet firmly on the ground. We will enjoy the Triple Crown, and then a big week ahead of Italy.
“Grand Slam might be said in the public, but it won’t be said in the circle. (Captain) Alun Wyn Jones won’t let it.
“Al won’t let any complacency get into this squad, and rightly so. We haven’t done anything yet.”