Christian Stuani and - inevitably - David Nugent were on target in the second half as Middlesbrough climbed to the top of the Championship via a 2-0 victory over Town at Portman Road. After the Blues had had the better of the first half, Stuani headed the opener on 54, then 20 minutes later Town’s nemesis Nugent scored his 15th goal in 14 games against Town and his 10th in eight at Portman Road.

Town named an unchanged XI but with David McGoldrick returning to the bench after recovering from his groin injury.

Winger Tommy Oar missed out on a place amongst the subs having picked up a knock in training, while Adam McDonnell replaced Joe Robinson in the 18. Former Blues skipper Grant Leadbitter started and skippered the Teessiders.

The game got under way but was very quickly halted when Ainsley Maitland-Niles required treatment for a head injury after George Friend arrived late as they went for the same aerial ball.

Town, playing a 4-4-2 formation with Freddie Sears on the left, threatened for the first time in the fifth minute when Maitland-Niles cut the ball across from the right to the former Colchester man, whose shot from a tight angle at the near post was blocked by Adam Clayton.

There was a big scare for the Blues following the resultant corner when Cole Skuse inadvertently found Stewart Downing with a pass back towards Chambers on halfway. Fortunately for Town the Blues skipper held his ground and blocked the former England international’s shot.

Brett Pitman hit a low strike which Boro keeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulos claimed without trouble in the ninth minute, then at the other end Dean Gerken was similarly unruffled by Blues nemesis David Nugent’s first effort of the game.

On 14 the Teessiders broke quickly down the left, Albert Adomah crossed and Christian Stuani volleyed into the ground and into Gerken’s arms from a tight angle on the right.

The Blues first seriously tested Konstantopoulos in the 23rd minute when Pitman sent Daryl Murphy away on the right. The Irish international chased the ball to the byline then played it back to the ex-Bournemouth man, who hit a powerful shot from the edge of the area which the Boro keeper palmed away.

Town went close again on 28 when Pitman crossed from the left to the far post to Chambers, but Konstantopoulos reacted quickly to block his half-volley and then paw the ball behind as the Blues captain looked to get to the rebound.

Boro defender Ben Gibson picked up the game’s first yellow card for pulling back Pitman midway inside the visitors’ half five minutes before the break. The Blues striker took the freekick himself but shot well over.

Neither side created another chance before referee Tim Robinson brought the half to an end.

Town were warmly applauded off having had the better of their second-placed opponents and the best of the game’s few chances.

Boro keeper Konstantopoulos had done well to stop Pitman’s strike and Chambers’s header, while at the other end the Town defence had prevented Nugent from being able to add to his goals against the Blues and at Portman Road, although the visitors had looked a threat on the break.

Konstantopoulos was forced into another save less than two minutes after the restart. Maitland-Niles seized on sloppy Boro passing on the Blues right and sent over a deep cross towards Pitman.

Daniel Ayala just got the faintest of touches as the ball came across taking it slightly away from the Town striker, who still managed to head back across the keeper, who got down and across to his left to save.

Blues keeper Gerken made an even more impressive stop a minute later. A cross from the right was headed back across goal by Adomah and Berra’s weak header only reached Leadbitter, who hit a powerful strike from eight yards which Gerken somehow managed to divert over the bar. Soon after, Leadbitter was booked for a foul.

Gerken had stopped what looked to be a certain goal, but in the 54th minute the visitors went in front.

Maitland-Niles misjudged a header sending Adomah away on the right. The former Bristol City man cut inside Smith - with Chambers allowing him too much space as he retreated - and sent over a cross towards the far post where Stuani got in ahead of Jonas Knudsen to nod home.

Berra was shown Town’s first yellow card of the evening for a foul on Nugent on 58 and three minutes later, the former Leicester man teed up Downing just outside the box, the midfielder hitting a well-struck shot which Gerken saved down to his left.

Maitland-Niles was replaced by Giles Coke in the 63rd minute, the ex-Sheffield Wednesday man joining Skuse and Jonathan Douglas in a midfield three with Sears now up front with Pitman and Murphy.

Downing hit a deflected shot not too far wide in the 68th minute, then a minute later Stuani diverted Friend’s cross wide at the near post with the Teessiders having been on top since their goal.

And in the 74th minute the inevitable happened, Nugent added to his remarkable goalscoring records against Town and at Portman Road.

Downing broke away down the right and found Nugent with a superb ball which put the striker through one on one against Smith on the edge of the Blues’ area, from where he hit a shot which deflected off the Town defender, struck the post and found the net.

Town went close to pulling a goal back in the 80th minute but once again Konstantopoulos stood in their way. A cross from the right reached Knudsen at the far post and the Greek keeper blocked the Dane’s close-range header.

Boro, who were very much in charge as the game moved into its final five minutes, went close to making it 3-0 when Nugent bundled Gerken’s save from Downing’s shot wide of the post from close range.

McGoldrick replaced Pitman on 86 but soon after the visitors went close again when Gerken deflected sub Adam Forshaw’s cross-shot from a tight angle across the six-yard area. Adomah was eventually first to the loose ball but Chambers blocked his stab towards goal.

A Blues comeback never looked on the cards in the closing stages and referee Robinson’s whistle confirmed Town’s fifth defeat of the season.

After the Blues had had the better of the first half and a decent chance in the opening minutes of the second, impressive Boro upped their game and once they had got in front their victory was never in any real doubt.

Nugent’s latest addition to his extraordinary record, which now stretches back more than a decade to his time with Preston, sealed the Teessiders’ first three points at Portman Road since March 1993.

Town, who have won only one of their last eight at home, have dropped a place to eighth behind Sheffield Wednesday on goal difference.

Town: Gerken, Chambers (c), Smith, Berra, Knudsen, Skuse, Maitland-Niles (Coke 63), Douglas, Sears, Murphy, Pitman (McGoldrick 86). Unused: Bialkowski, Malarczyk, Parr, Tabb, McDonnell.

MIddlesbrough: Konstantopoulos, Nsue, Ayala, Gibson, Friend, Leadbitter (c), Clayton, Stuani (Forshaw 85), Downing, Adomah, Nugent. Unused: Mejias, Amorebieta, Kike, Kalas, Fabbrini, Zuculini. Referee: Tim Robinson (West Sussex). Att: 17,662 (Boro: 491).

Photo: Action Images

Michael11 added 21:57 - Dec 4 Utterly dreadful. What on earth Mick see's in Knudsen instead of Parr I'll never know. I've given up on even mentioning Chambers' inability to play full back. Douglas would be an insult to cart horses if I called him that. We don't have anyone capable of passing a ball 5 yards. Every time we play anyone better than teams like Bolton and Rotherham we look awful. Maitland-Niles was the only player who looked ok and we brought him off for bloody Coke. Just about sums it all up tonight!!

21

BrettenhamBlue added 22:01 - Dec 4 Good first half. Awful second half, especially after AMN went off. He was creating the link to our strikers and once that was gone we offered zero threat. Gerken had a good game, but Knudsen and Chambers didn't make life easy for him. They were beaten far too often and Knudsen in particular had a poor game tonight. Sears, Pittman, AMN: good, solid performances. Murphy was man marked out of the game by Ayala who was literally his shadow. Coke played like Ulrich Le Pen. He's certainly no poor mans Patrick Viera. We need Hyam back to come on in that sub role.

7

dagenhamtown added 22:02 - Dec 4 A disgrace no quality long balls no pace out wide the worst second half I've seen.knusden appalling gerken top class again.god so one dimensional it's frightening so so so poor
11

runningout added 22:02 - Dec 4 oh dear.... those that gave Nugent some stick, hang your heads in shame "all your fault". :)
6

theman added 22:03 - Dec 4 Really good first half and clearly the match wasn't all doom and gloom. However, I don't understand why MM insists on going 3 up front when we go behind. (I know he brought on Coke for AMN but this moved Sears up top). All this achieved was us ceding possession in midfield and failing to establish a foothold in the game. It played into Boro's hands, they could keep hold of the ball and keep us at arm's length. Would have been nice if Mick had changed things once it was clear it wasn't working as we looked bereft of ideas. Two other points: 1. Coke isn't good enough, 2. What's the point of bring DMG on for 5 minutes when 2-0 down? Have to give him longer so he can change/impact the game.

12

Keaneish added 22:03 - Dec 4 The biggest problem this side has is Cole Skuse. He's more worried about the players around him than getting on the ball and dictating the game. I'm sick of watching his apathetic displays now and listening to others praise him. He does nothing with the ball week in week out win or lose. He's had over 100 games for us now and not bossed a game once. Parr for Knudsen. End of.

18

TractorCam added 22:04 - Dec 4 I think the first thing to say is Middlesbrough are clearly better than us, the difference in class was shown. Having said that, I thought we were matching Middlesbrough and if it weren't for 2 great saves from Dimi we would of had the lead at half time. We went 1-0 down due to poor marking on Adomah (he ripped us apart all game) and from then on it was downhill. The substitute of Coke for Maitland-Niles was utterly laughable, as AMN was clearly the only player causing any problems to the Boro defence. 2nd goal was another throw in from Knudsen (who is clearly not as good as Parr) straight to Ayala who won every single header, and a clearance to Nugent who despite doing nothing all game, was obviously going to take his 1 chance, as he is a quality finisher. What's the point of bringing on McGoldrick in the 85th minute, the game is well and truly over by this point. We need to start competing against these teams if we want a place in the top 6, Fraser returning will definitely go along way with helping that, please return asap!

23

bluemay77 added 22:04 - Dec 4 I can't believe the negativity we were brilliant first half and just lost our way after their goal get behind the team loyal supporter
-13

WhoisJimmyJuan added 22:07 - Dec 4 Drab! Drab! Drab! Don't get me wrong Big Mick has been good for the club and I don't say sack him now. But when you have a lack of investment, 2nd rate players, players out of position and a style unpleasing on the eye, you have a recipe for fans walking. I suspect the "moaners" v "rose glasses" scrap might have a lot to do with who goes to games; if you fork out money to see this, you are bound to be disgruntled. Tonight you see what a difference investment in squad makes. The idea that Smith, Skuse, Douglas, Knudsen, Chambers at RB only, can deliver success to this club is laughable. Great guys but we need better,much better. Tonight we couldn't pass, couldn't tackle, couldn't cross, could shoot a little , and need to stop treading on the f-ing ball or passing to the opposition!

9

DurhamTownFan added 22:08 - Dec 4 If hardly say the first half was 'brilliant' but we matched them well. Second he completely outclassed due to our inability to keep the ball, as is often the case when we come up against the best teams. Knudsen was poor again. I watched his throws very closely and not one found a town player. Need to stop, as losing the ball from one of his throws led to their second goal.

23

pablo123 added 22:10 - Dec 4 Bluemay77 REALLY ??? That was awful , and as for knudsen , chambers and douglas , dear oh dear they are truly dreadful week in week out !! Heyho its where we are , a club and owner with no ambition , so its all good !!
6

mickeyjb added 22:12 - Dec 4 Plain to see, we was competitive in the first half, pitman and Murphy worked well. AMN decent. But like everybody says why persist with Knudsen and his long throws? I to was rather shocked at McG only getting about 7 mins. The last few games showed us we are safely in the mid part of the table, this showed us that we are not good enough for much more. We can be, but we will need to have game changers on the bench and not Giles Coke! Something different would have been nice. If we are down to the bare bones as Mick said before the match, why not get someone in on loan? Back down to earth and reality with a bang! Seems you have to spend to get out of this league, we arnt so we won't!

9

TractorBoy666 added 22:14 - Dec 4 Until we start spending some money, we are going nowhere. The top 5 have all spent money and have decent squad. Sadly, we adopt this financial fair play crap and are left with a mid table squad of over performing last season. I am not blaming the manager for that as there is only one person to blame, Marcus Evans. It's going to be a tough ask just to reach the play offs, we are nowhere automatic promotion.

5

Mr_Evans added 22:16 - Dec 4 We were so poor 2nd half. Knudsen looks out of his depth in this league - he gives the ball away far too often, and what is the point in his long throws? We haven't scored 1 goal from them this season, 9/10 times we lose possession from his throws and tonight the 2nd goal was a prime example of this. How do we ever expect to to compete with the top teams of this league with a defence made up of a CB at RB, a left footed CB playing on the wrong side and a LB that is not experienced nor has the quality to play week-in-week-out in this league.

13

OldClactonBlue added 22:16 - Dec 4 Men against boys once they scored. They had half chances and made them look easy whereas we had half chances and made them look difficult. Adomah illustrated the need for a proper right back perfectly. We had no idea when the lump up field didn't work. When we needed more we subbed MN with Coke. Not exactly competitive. Yes we were ok First Half but the game has two halves.

6

Minneapolis_ITFC added 22:17 - Dec 4 0 - 0 at half-time at least represented a decent score, I wonder how many people would have taken that after 90 minutes if given the choice. Seems to be multiple threads on the main forum concerning two things : #1 We can get a result against regular inferior opposition or those in the lower reaches, but can't do a thing with teams that are main promotion challengers #2 We aren't real promotion material / the opposition were deserved victors Easy to concur with both lines of thought, although as mentioned before we DID have some good scores away last season at promotion challengers such as Brentford and Watford, it's maybe not being duplicated sufficiently this time around. We can argue this and all other points so far as the day is long, but bottom line, we played a team today that were probably favorites to get something out of it, being beaten by a team that occupies the automatic promotion places is no long-lasting disgrace - and have to realize, we're not really on the same plateau as the team that has just been victorious. As always - we move on, go to next game, and hopefully - next time the points will be ours.

6

GiveusaWave added 22:19 - Dec 4 We had a good, solid first half guys. Yes, it's frustrating that we lost, but there are a few positives about this match. Murphy,Pittbull, AMN and Sears all had good matches. Berra was ok and Gerken kept us in the game. It's obvious even to MM's cat that we have our weaknesses. Knudsen had a bad one. Chambers was (as usual) beaten far too often and Joke was (as usual) unbelievably poor. We do need better subs but we have a lot of players out injured and we will look better once these players return. Coke probably needs a fresh start somewhere new and hopefully MM will get him out on loan in Jan. Unrealistic expectations once again guys. MM is doing brilliantly with what is a shoe string squad. We are not a top 5 team. If we get 6th MM will have performed a miracle. Look at the depth and strength of other squads. how many of our players would actually get in the Boro squad???

6

paulnstar added 22:19 - Dec 4 what was it cloughie said about god putting grass up in the clouds think this was aimed at town absolutely outclassed tonight and anyone who thought beating the bottom three meant town r going up ur Christmas crackers thank god gerken was outstanding or that could have been 5 or 6 .as its seems everyones sacking their manager why don't we join in.
-1

marco007 added 22:20 - Dec 4 Just about as poor as it gets! Totally brainless game We are lacking in creativity and pace and against a solid defence lumping and throwing balls into the box is just food and drink to the Bro centre halves. Why on earth was AMN taken off for Coke??? Game over as soon as he went off. The first goal was just awful defending with Smith and Knudson at fault and the second was a case off, back off, go on shoot.....whoops deflection and another goal conceded!! At best we are mid table, but Premier League?? Don't make me laugh. Desperately need Fraser, Bish, Bru and a fit Didz or we are sliding down the table Zzzzzzzzzzzz

5

itfc4e added 22:20 - Dec 4 As I have said numerous times in the past, Douglas and Skuse cannot play in the same team. They are turning into this seasons Jay Tabb ( frighteningly, I would possibly prefer him than one of those two ). Absolutely no creativity in midfield apart from a bit from AMN. We can't even pass to each other!! Absolutely shocking second half display!!!!!!!
4

MrDiddle added 22:21 - Dec 4 I posted this on the last article but reposting on here as is more relevant... Unfortunately it just wasn't our night tonight. AMN seemed to have had something knocked out of him after that clash of heads in the first minute, and I don't think he was at full pelt after that. Having said that I thought we were the better team in the first half, Murph was everywhere and Pitman and Chambers were unlucky not to have scored. I thought for the first goal, Tommy Smith could have done a bit more to try and stop Adamoah - sadly after that we never really got back into the groove, and then bloody Nugent scored. Sooner that bloke retires the better! Knudsen is work in progress. He'll get better the more he plays, but showed his inexperience tonight. Again Gerks warranted his place in the team. Made a couple of cracking saves today (as did the Boro keeper). It's crap whenever we lose, but lets keep our heads lads this was not the terrible performance some of you are making it out to be.

3

warktheline added 22:21 - Dec 4 Reality check people! Been saying for quite awhile the top five or so teams are a cut above us, and nothing tonight has changed my mind! This team went as far as it could last season, and that's as good as it gets, unless......no I shan't bother to repeat myself, it's bloody pointless!
21

Taricco_Fan added 22:24 - Dec 4 No surprise, this result. Our home form of late has been poor, dropping points against sides we should be beating (if we are serious about promotion) and our only win since August coming against a beleaguered Bolton side. We're a team full of graft but lacking in craft. We can impose ourselves on the poorest teams (Bolton, Rotherham, Charlton) through effort and organisation alone, make hard work of those in mid-table, and generally find it hard to live with the top four or five clubs who have invested in quality players. There's already a breakaway group of these five teams at the top of the table. So we are what we are: a hard-working, functional, direct, tactically-limited side. Going nowhere in other words. To get out of this division you need some class. As a side lacking in investment and, by extension, lacking ambition, we don't have the quality required to push for anything other than a fanciful sixth place.

15

blues1 added 22:25 - Dec 4 My God. There really are some idiots on here. Until the 1st goal there was littlevin the game, at which point their extra bit of class began to show. While I believe we need to try something other than a long throw into the box u can't just blame Knudsen for that. Every time it went in tonight Murphy, or whoever else was aimed for just stood still waiting for the ball to reach them instead of going to the ball thus allowing for an easy job of defending it. Like everyone I was bemused by the coke substitution. But a typical McCarthy sub it has to be said. As for that causing sears to go forward into a 4-3-3 formation. We were in that formation from the start, just as we have been for past 2 games

4

afrodids added 22:27 - Dec 4 Taxi for Marcus Evans, turn the lights off when you leave. We beat the bottom 3 (which we should anyway) and everyone is co**ngin their pants. We have an owner who lacks ambition we have acrewed more money in than out. Yeah yeah wages, bail out blah blah blah. A manager who still thinks it's the 90's. It's embarrassing. At the age of 43 I've supported this club through thick and thin and it's not a knee jerk reaction, I have no faith in mccarthy or Marcus Evans and seriously we will not leave this division through to the promise land with them connected to this once proud club. I will continue to support my team however I am saddened by our plight. To finish some food for thought PL official : "if you get promoted we'll give £120 million. FFP official says you've been very naughty we are going to take £8 million from you. Ok where do I sign up it's not rocket science is it!

4

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls