THERE’S a lot to be said for timing in the Championship promotion race. And Middlesbrough appear to be timing things just right.
It was certainly the right time to head to Ewood Park to face a woeful Blackburn side engulfed by problems on and off the pitch, and Michael Carrick’s side clinically took full advantage on Friday night. Two goals came inside the first eight minutes. Job done. Up to fifth in the Championship with momentum and belief building.
Maybe, at the business end of a season in which they’ve been riddled by inconsistency and had to deal with their fair share of setbacks, Boro are timing their charge to perfection. The next week will tell us more, with Leeds to come on Tuesday and a trip to Millwall next Saturday, but Boro are now the form side in the division, with five wins in their last seven games. They were helped on Friday night by the fact they were playing the side currently on the worst run in the division.
Blackburn’s protesting fans were urged to “express themselves” at Ewood Park, which is exactly what Boro did in the opening stages. Tommy Conway scored the opener after just 79 seconds and Samuel Iling-Junior added a second with a heavily deflected strike just six minutes later. From that point onwards it was all very comfortable for Boro and all very uncomfortable for their former striker Rudy Gestede and his fellow Blackburn officials in the directors’ box, who were the targets of angry chants from the home fans from the first minute to the last.
After the final whistle, Boro's players headed to the away end to celebrate in front of the 3,500 away fans. Delano Burgzorg again led the way but he was joined by Tommy Conway in orchestrating the roars of delight from the travelling Teessiders.
The only downside for Boro was the sight of Neto Borges hobbling off in the first half. It was a sickener for the defender, who has been Boro’s best player in the last couple of months and will be desperately hoping the injury to his ankle isn’t serious. Rav van den Berg joined the immense Jonny Howson at centre-half and saw out a second clean sheet in three games.
Carrick might have played it down in his press conference this week but the Boro boss will have known and stressed the importance of a fast start to prey on Blackburn’s vulnerability on the pitch and fury among the fans. And simmering Blackburn anger in the stands very quickly came to the boil. Or at least it did with the supporters who stayed, for some were heading for the exits after just eight minutes with Boro already two goals up.
Blackburn had barely touched the ball and they were behind, Boro’s opening goal as pleasing on the eye as their winner against Oxford last week. Dijksteel to Azaz to Iheanacho to Conway, who spun his defender with his brilliant first touch and beat Aynsley Pears with his sublime second. Conway started the first half with a goal and ended it charging back to cut out a Blackburn cross. Only four players have scored more Championship goals this season than Boro’s striker, hugely impressive when you consider the Scotland international has missed 10 Boro games. He was a superb signing last summer.
And Iling-Junior is increasingly looking like a fine January addition. He’s made the left-back spot his own and was excellent in the first half in particular, even if he did get lucky with his eighth minute strike that took a huge deflection off ex-Boro defender Danny Batth. The finish was fortunate but the build-up was again swift and incisive.
After two assists, Kelechi Iheanacho had a chance to score a third Boro goal inside the opening quarter of an hour but dragged his shot wide. Boro were dragging Blackburn this way and that, not that the home fans were paying much attention to what was going on on the pitch. Instead, they were aiming their fury at the directors’ box.
Boro got a bit sloppy but rarely looked like being punished. Mark Travers was a spectator before the break, Blackburn touching the ball only once in the Boro box in the opening 45 minutes. Boro have made a mess of plenty of leads this season but managed this one maturely, in the week Carrick said his side have learned lessons from earlier in the campaign.
It’s a good time for Boro to be enjoying their best run of form all season.
