Following Saturday’s clash between Middlesbrough and Barnsley, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
Middlesbrough hosted Barnsley at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday March 10, with the hosts taking a comfortable three one victory.
Daniel Ayala opened the scoring in the first minute and Adama Traore doubled their advantage before 20 minutes had been played. Taking a two nil lead into the half time break, Patrick Bamford made it eight goals in five games in minute 53 to tie the points up.
Barnsley did hit back through Kieffer Moore in minute 58, but as Middlesbrough move into the last Play Off spot, Barnsley slip to only two wins in the last 21 league matches but they haven’t yet slipped into the relegation zone.
Teams:
Middlesbrough:
Randolph, Shotton, Ayala, Gibson, Friend, Howson, Clayton, Besic (Baker 66), Traore, Bamford (Assombalonga 90+1), Downing (Cranie 83).
Substitutes:
Konstantopoulos, Fry, Johnson, Harrison.
Barnsley:
Townsend, Cavare, Jackson, Lindsay, Pinillos, Williams (Mallan 75), Hedges (Thiam 45), Knasmullner (Isgrove 61), Gardner, McBurnie, Moore.
Substitutes:
Davies, Moncur, Yiadom, Pearson.
Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee Andy Davies blew the final whistle, Middlesbrough head coach Tony Pulis explained.
‘In the first half we did very well, passed it well, played through the pitch and put lots of crosses in. The one disappointment was that we never scored more goals. The third goal should have truthfully killed it but we took our foot off the pedal and that’s one of the things we’ve been talking about. You can’t do that at any level. The challenge is to stay in there now. As I’ve said, we can work all week but once they cross that line they take responsibility and it’s up to the players. A lot of things are said about managers and coaches…but they have to take responsibility. In the next nine games we’ll see.’
Barnsley head coach Jose Morais in his comparative interview explained.
‘We knew it was a difficult opponent, with quality players. We were aware of situations that could happen in the game and for some reason we didn’t control it in a good way in the beginning and I believe in the first half we had problems to keep our organisation. This has happened in some games, we wanted to correct it and we couldn’t. I wasn’t impressed with the second half, I was surprised with the first half. I believed the team can do what they did in the second half. I’m aware of what we need to do to be in a better position. We have played four games away, we knew this was against Middlesbrough, a good team with good players, a team that has been improving.’
