English Championship Match Review, Middlesbrough vs Sheffield United
Gary Speed lost his first game as the new boss of Sheffield United. This was thanks to a Kris Boyd Goal which saw Middlesbrough win by one goal to nil at the Riverside and resulted in the Blade's following to bottom of the Championship table.
Boyd produced a shocker of a defensive error, which allowed Chris Morgan to get his first goal of the season while helping Middlesbrough achieve their first victory of the season.
The Middlesbrough boss, Gordon Strachan was more than pleased to see his team go home with the three points. Boro are the title favorites and they didn't do their reputation any harm when they beat Speed's team in a less than impressive manner.
During the course of the game, neither one of the two teams looked very keen to attack the other. Middlesbrough showed a lack of ambition in front of the opposition goal that at times, looked to be very worrying for the fans of the team.
The reason for their lack of confidence can be because of the fact that, the team has only won three of their last fourteen matches, but that still can't be a good enough excuse for the teams performance that looked like a blatant lack of interest by most of the players, for most of the game.
The two players who looked as though they would do something were, Kick and Matt Likgallon. They were the only players on the team who looked to run at the opposing defenders and looked like they could created something.
United weren't much better either. However they seemed to create more chances that Middelsbrough. Brad Jones pulled off a tremendous save on the seventeenth minute mark to help keep United in the game.
After the half time changes were made by both side. However neither one of the changes made any significant impact to the game. If was after a dreadful error by Morgan that handed Boyd his first goal in a Boro jersey and saw the team go one nil up against Sheffield United.
The Scottish player has previously had a lethal goal scoring record in his homeland. He barely got a touch on the ball before the error by Morgan.
Boyd might have not done much in the game, but his predator instincts are second to none. He is not one of the quickest players around but still managed to nod the ball on, dribble it a few feet before pile driving it into the bottom right of the goal.
In response to the goal, United upped the tempo of their game, but their final ball and touch in front of the goal were lacking on numerous occasions.
The win saw Boro catapult themselves into the top half of the English Championship. On the other hand Sheffield United are not at the bottom of the table, level on goal difference with Leicester.
Middlesbrough, have been highly disappointing ever since being relegated to the Championship from the English top flight. However it is strongly believed that this could be the year that they make it to the top and manage to get re promoted to the English top flight. It appears as though luck has finally started to turn in the team's favor and if things go the way they are then, the team could find themselves in the Premier League next season.
Sheffield United fan's need not worry however, since it is impossible to determine what teams won't be in the Championship next season. With United being one of the better teams in the league, it is a sure shot guarantee that they will bounce back from the disappointing loss next week.
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