Match Review – Middlesbrough 0-1 Brighton
For 70 minutes, Middlesbrough v Brighton looked like it might provide a long awaited breakthrough in the attempt to find a cure for insomnia.
Even the most hardened insomniac would have struggled not to be bored to sleep at the Riverside Stadium. As an attacking force, Brighton were non existent until Jose Izquierdo’s introduction on the hour mark. Warren Aspinall in the BBC Radio Sussex commentary box told it exactly how it was when asked why he was standing up at the start of the second half, his response being that it was the only way he could guarantee staying awake.
Many Albion fans have been clamouring for the return of 4-4-2 as a way of making us more of a threat going and they got their wish but it made no difference in that regard. Boro had the best chances of the game, Tim Krul having to tip an effort from the lively Adama Traore onto the post and Daniel Ayala headed straight at the Dutchman from a corner.
Krul was one of seven changes to the side beaten by Chelsea last week and if this is considered a reserve team, it shows what strength in depth we have across the park bar up front which the club are belatdeley addressing anyway. Only two of the starting 11 – Krul and Markus Suttner – weren’t regulars in the side that did so well in our previous two seasons in the Championship.
Krul is an upgrade on David Stockdale and Suttner is just as effective performer as either Gaetan Bong or Sebastian Pocognoli. Which suggests if we were to end up relegated and sell the crown jewels like Maty Ryan, Lewis Dunk, Shane Duffy and Pascal Gross back to the Premier League, we’d be well placed for an immediate return even without taking into consideration the quality of any new signings we may make.
It looked like those reserves would get another run out in a replay that would’ve been about as welcome as discovering John Worboys was your new next day neighbour. That was until substitute Glenn Murray popped up with the only goal of the game in the 90th minute, producing a brilliant piece of opportunism to use his thigh to divert George Friend’s clearance of a Markus Suttner cross past Darren Randolph to make the long journey north worthwhile for the 911 Albion fans who bothered to attend. Looking forward to the inevitable arguments about the closed shop for away game tickets when the Everton, Crystal Palace and Liverpool games roll around.
It was Murray’s eighth goal of the season and he now has a better goals per minutes ratio than Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford and Jermaine Defoe. Murray for England?
Perhaps not, but he played like a man on a mission when he was introduced for the ineffective Tomer Hemed with 15 minutes remaining. Anyone would think he needs his goal and FA Cup winners bonus to pay off a tax bill or something.
Could an FA Cup win be on the cards?
It’s unlikely, but there is no reason the Albion can’t go further in the competition than the fifth round stage that has been the furthest we’ve advanced since the 1980s. We’re just two wins from a potential semi final and a trip to Wembley that isn’t for a shit league game in front of a half empty stadium with all the atmosphere of a wake.
Both Arsenal and Liverpool have already fallen and Spurs were fortunate to claim a replay against Newport County. There is a route opening up for at least one of the top flights lesser teams to go deep into the competition so why can’t that be the Albion?
We can but dream.
