Well, you can talk about “unlucky” and “on another night “ all you want but the simple fact is that Middlesbrough left Griffin Park with all 3 points after beating Brentford 1-0. It may well have been against the run of play in a game where, especially in the first twenty minutes, we dominated but if ever there was a lesson to be learned about taking your chances when they arise then here it was. And with free scoring Burnley due to visit on Friday night, let’s hope it is one that we learn fast.
Brentford played very, very well for large parts of this game despite the best efforts of referee Gavin Ward. The aforementioned opening salvo saw a performance that was world’s apart from the debacle in the FA Cup. Lasse Vibe, especially, started at 100mph as first he set up Alan Judge for a shot that drifted just wide before finding himself clean through moments later. With defenders closing and Boro’ keeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulos on inspired form, as ever, the chance was pushed away for one of the 11 corners we earned.
Hands off Toumani….. Boro’ defend another corner
The returning Sam Saunders saw Dimi manage to get to a dipping first half free kick whilst Harlee Dean and Max Colin (my standout player from last night) also came close for the Bees. Yet despite these wonderful chances and a final figure of 60% possession if you don’t put the ball in the back of the net then you don’t win football matches.
Middlesbrough were solid and well organised. Perhaps you could even say they were cynical at times but they did what they needed to. On a blustery evening they soaked us up, rode their luck a bit yet, with the scores still at 0-0, when the chance presented itself on the hour they put it away. Or, rather, we did.
David Button, for so long this season the man who has kept us in games, saw an attempted punch spin off his gloves, over his head and, despite the claims of Daniel Ayala, straight through a melee of players and over the line. It was, to be polite, a frustrating moment and I’m not going to start criticising our ‘keeper – far from it. He’s been a hero this season and we play as a team.To be honest, the game should have been closed out by that point.
Instead, Middlesbrough did what they do – lock things down and win games. In tricky conditions, a long way from home, they made it 6 wins in 16 months against The Bees.
I’m not going to pander to our team and say “unlucky”. This was a wonderful chance to beat the league leaders and close in on play-off rivals. Instead, they’ve got away with the points once more and the gap to sixth is now eight points. From a table perspective, the only consolation is that at least positions 4-6 are really tightening up. But, being honest, I think we’re now in a place where unless we start winning very fast indeed, consolidation is the best this side can hope for this time around.
The BBC table shows the current state of play
That’s still no bad thing and moreso given the start to the campaign we had. People have huge expectation levels and forget how far we’ve come over the last few seasons. Likewise, how mediocre things have been in the past. Ladies and gentlemen, before Marinus I give you Terry Butcher, Leroy Rosenior and even the sad end to the Andy Scott era – just for starters.
Yet at the same time, we were spoiled by what the squad achieved last season and just how close we came to the top flight. For a brief moment, ‘automatic’ was looking very much a possibility and, even then, we still got a second bite as we hit the play-offs on that stunning final day of the season.
Seeing Andre Gray scoring goals for fun this season up at Burnley (and, indeed, the brace he managed for us under Marinus) does show just what this team have been missing in recent weeks. You can’t knock Lasse Vibe’s effort, or goals, but target man isn’t his natural position. The return to fitness of Marco Djuricin can only be a good thing for a team whose record is now just two wins in eight games.
Only Derby, Burnley, Sheffield Wednesday and, erm, Fulham have scored more goals than us all season and so I’m sure you’ll hear the statisticians and coaches saying we’re looking quite healthy in that position. Well, the last five games have only seen us trouble the scorers three times – and two of those were the wonder goals from Ryan Woods and Sergi Canos at Reading. Incredible strikes, for sure, but not the sort of thing you can rely on week in, week out.
Were we unlucky last night? Yes. We played very well with Sam Saunders providing a welcome burst of fresh air and enthusiasm whilst Max Colin really impressed.
Should we have won? Probably. Judge and Vibe had the best of some good chances for Brentford.
Did Middlesbrough deserve it? It’s irrelevant. When the chance arose, we were pressured into conceding and they didn’t let us back in despite the Bees having seen the majority of the ball by full time.
Goals win football matches, people. Regardless of who you are playing or how it gets into the back of the net.
Roll on Friday, when Burnley await. They warmed up with a 5-0 humping of MK Dons last night. Then again, if Brentford start like we did on Tuesday evening it could be an interesting one…
Nick Bruzon
BrentfordFC 
No doubt it wasn’t one of Boro’s better nights but apart from the one on one with the keeper Dimi’s saves were largely routine and you are conveniently forgetting Nugent’s one on one with your goalkeeper. Brentford have a major issue with their pitch which, last night, combined with the blustery conditions to make playing football difficult. Nevertheless the try to play the right way and I wish them well.
Pitch was fine – GP is a good surface now, we’ve just had bundles of rain on it – the wind was tricky though. We played some decent stuff on it but our shortcomings are there for all to see – we don’t take our chances and always have a routine mistake in us.
Boro will go up, they know how to win and love defending – credit for that. The manipulation of a brittle referee was also well coached. We have to take note.
Well said Rebel. Also good to see that the players who’ve been subject of transfer speculation didn’t let it “turn their heads” and played like professionals, unlike a certain ex Bee currently in the Boro ranks…… 😉
Well said both. Thanks , as ever, for reading…
“At least we won the possession” – well that makes a home defeat so much better.
That’s the point Ady.
Not sure what Alan’s issue with the pitch was. If it was the frequent fallers, then thats more to do with the weather.
Brentford were very Brentford, and Boro were very Boro. Boro are never the prettiest team to watch. They play very effectively without ever being spectacular. They get ahead in a game, then through Leadbitter & Clayton become destructive. They are clearly going to be there or thereabouts at the end of the season.
But we can hold our heads high, we can play against the best in this division in a season which is now clearly a season of consolidation, further establishing ourselves as part of the Championship furniture. Who would have thought that so soon after the Yeovil play-off final?