Middlesbrough Left Frustrated After Goaless Draw With Fulham

It was an afternoon of sheer frustration for Middlesbrough fans in yesterday’s goalless draw with Fulham. A few weeks ago Aitor Karanka’s side appeared to be the team to beat in the Sky Bet Championship, but this was not the sort performance to suggest that they are Premier League side in waiting.

Before last week’s international break Boro’s impressive run of 8 victories in a row came to an abrupt end when they lost away to fellow high flyers Reading away from home.

This was therefore a perfect opportunity for Karanka’s men to come back swinging after a fortnight away, however in a game with little quality they barely throw a punch.

Boro's Grant Leadbitter and Fulham's Ben Pringle 

Fulham were no slouches and to their credit they didn’t simply batten down the hatches and defend like other teams have done at the Riverside this season. Even so this was still a side which had let a 2 goal lead slip at home to Charlton 2 weeks ago and lost 3-0 to Wolves before that.

As the score line suggests it was a day for defenders and some recognition should go to the Fulham centre backs Richard Stearman and Dan Burn who defended admirably. The same could be said about Daniel Ayala and Ben Gibson in the Boro backline, which was once again shielded by the excellent Adam Clayton, but overall the passing was slow and ordinary meaning both sides had time to keep their shape.

Karanka made 3 changes from the side which lost at the Madejski Stadium last time out, Fernando Amorebieta was ineligible to play against his parent club so Ben Gibson replaced him in defence.

Carlos De Pena made his first league start in place of Christian Stuani, who wasn’t even on the bench after representing Uruguay over the international break, while David Nugent replaced Kike upfront.

Kit Symons made 2 changes to the Fulham side which drew with Charlton in their last game. Like Amorebieta, James Husband couldn’t play against the side he is currently on loan from so fellow left back Luke Garbutt took his place. The other change saw Burn replace Tim Ream at centre half.

Last season Fulham, in particular Ross McCormack, all but ended Boro’s hopes of automatic promotion when the London club recorded a 4-3 victory at Craven Cottage.

The London club started the brighter here and were nearly ahead inside 8 minutes when Ryan Tunnicliff quickly burst into the Boro penalty area and squared the ball back to McCormack, who had the goal at his mercy; however the Scott was denied by a superb slide tackle from Ayala.

After being let off the hook the hosts began to grow into a sluggish match, Fabbrini tried his luck from range but curled his shot wide. Then after 23 minutes George Friend, on his 28^th birthday, crossed from the left to find Nugent whose shot was deflected off target.

The match remained relatively even with neither side creating anything clear cut. Tunnicliffe’s shot from range was straight at Boro keeper Dimi Konstantopulos, who then showed good bravery to leap on Lasse Vigen Christensen’s low cross minutes later.

Boro did manage to find the back of the net when Fabbrini released Nugent through on goal, but the linesman’s flag was already raised. Before that De Pena had an effort blocked and Stewart Downing’s cross was caught by keeper Andy Lonergan.

Boro started the 2^nd half in a more lively fashion, Grant Leadbitter set up Nugent who was closed down before he was about to shoot and Ayala had a header saved from the resulting corner.

Albert Adomah replaced De Pena on 56 minutes, however Boro’s shots continued to be either blocked or fired wide. The best chance fell to the visitors when a careless clearance from Friend went straight to McCormack whose shot required a sharp one handed save from Konstantopulos.

In the closing stages the hosts appeared the more likely to score and Fabbrini saw another shot deflected over. Even so the visitors could and probably should have stolen the points when McCormack was picked out in space on the counter attack but his shot cleared the bar.

Player Ratings

Dimi Konstantopulos   7- Made a couple of decent saves in particular from McCormack

Tomas Kalas   6.5 Solid defensively, tried to get forward at times

Daniel Ayala   7   Made a crucial interception to deny McCormack in the first half

Ben Gibson   6.5   Slotted back into the defence quite comfortably  

George Friend   6- Made a couple of wayward clearances at the back

Adam Clayton   7.5 Won the ball on numerous occasions and protected the back four

Grant Leadbitter   6 Made a couple of tackles in the middle of the park, passing was a bit slow at times

Carlos De Pena   5 - Rarely got in the game on his first league start

Diego Fabbrini   5.5- Had a couple of shot but rarely tested the keeper

Stewart Downing   6- Struggled to have a major impact operating on the right

David Nugent   6- Worked hard upfront but lacked service

Subs

Albert Adomah   6- Looked lively when he first came on but faded gradually

Kike – Only came on for the last ten minutes, can’t give a fair rating

My Boro Man Of The Match: Adam Clayton