Middlesbrough defeated Birmingham City 3-1 in front of their own fans on Monday night
Demarai Gray during Birmingham City's game against Middlesbrough
Demarai Gray during Birmingham City's game against Middlesbrough(Image: Andrew Kearns - CameraSport via Getty Images)
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Middlesbrough ran out 3-1 winners to inflict Birmingham City’s second league defeat under Chris Davies at St Andrew’s.
Matt Targett bagged a first half brace before Blues striker Marvin Ducksch reduced the deficit shortly after half-time.
David Strelec killed the game with a third goal for Boro on the hour to boost their automatic promotion hopes and dent Blues’ bid for the play-offs.
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The returning Tommy Doyle had the first shot in anger. Adilson Malanda carelessly conceded possession in his own defensive third and Doyle advanced to the edge of the box before unleashing a left-footed drive that Sol Brynn tipped around the post.
Boro snatched the lead in the 13th minute through former Aston Villa defender Targett. Deployed as a left wing-back on the night, Target drifted in behind Bright Osayi-Samuel to collect Aidan Morris’s ball over the top and slotted calmly past James Beadle.
There was a hint of offside about Targett’s goal but replays showed the assistant referee on the far side was right to give the Boro man the benefit of the doubt.
Blues only had themselves to blame for Boro and Targett’s second goal of the evening.
Matt Targett celebrates after scoring for Middlesbrough against Birmingham City
Matt Targett celebrates after scoring for Middlesbrough against Birmingham City(Image: Ryan Browne/Shutterstock)
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Jonathan Panzo miscued the initial header before Christoph Klarer failed to control and clear in front of Hayden Hackney. Hackney slipped the ball to his left where Targett was waiting to fire home at The Tilton again.
Blues fans had little to cheer about in the remainder of the first half but Brynn did at least gift them a corner when he held onto the ball for longer than the permitted eight seconds. Klarer headed Kai Wagner’s deep delivery into the goalkeeper’s hands.
Boos greeted the half-time whistle and, for the first time this season at St Andrew’s, they were for the home team’s performance.
Blues needed a fast start to the second half and Ducksch supplied the finish to a smart move down the right to reduce the arrears within three minutes.
Osayi-Samuel made amends for his part in Boro’s goals with a good pass down the right for Jay Stansfield and he cut the ball back for Ducksch to score his 10th goal of the campaign.
Ducksch was clearly plugged back in for the second half and almost notched another with a first-time shot from 25 yards that was a Brynn fingertip away from finding the bottom corner.
Blues were just starting to build up some momentum when they were sucker-punched by Strelec. A Boro corner was recycled back to Luke Ayling and his inswinging cross from the left was perfectly guided into the corner by the head of Strelec.
That goal killed any hope Blues had of salvaging something from the game and left their play-off hopes hanging by a threat after a damaging couple of defeats.
Blues end the night as they started it, eight points behind sixth-placed Wrexham and in need of snookers to reach the play-offs.
James Beadle 4
The goalkeeper won’t relish the replay of this match at Blues’ training ground. He was slow out to Targett for the first goal, but his distribution was extremely poor and could have led to more Boro goals.
Bright Osayi-Samuel 4.5
Osayi-Samuel partly redeemed himself for the part he played in Boro’s first two goals with a lovely ball down the right for Stansfield to set up Ducksch. We are judging him on his defending first and foremost, and Osayi-Samuel should do better.
Christoph Klarer 5
Klarer’s loose touch contributed to Targett’s second goal but there were some better defensive moments from the Blues skipper in the second half.
Jonathan Panzo 4.5
Panzo played his part in Boro’s second with a sloppy header and looked shakier than he has previously for Blues.
Kai Wagner 5.5
Fair play to Wagner for showing up and, to the German’s credit, Boro’s best bits came down the other flank. There were a couple of corners that troubled the visitors.
Tommy Doyle 5
Boro’s midfield might be the best in the Championship, and Doyle and Iwata found the going tough. Doyle was a tad slower to execute passes than he might have been, and you would expect him to lose his place for Charlton.
Tomoki Iwata 4.5
Iwata was loose on the ball for the second game running in midfield which begs the question as to whether he should play in there again.
Patrick Roberts 5.5
It was no surprise to see Roberts restored to the line-up after three games on the bench but he wasn’t able to pick holes in Boro’s defence. Roberts improved after half-time and Blues had moments down their right before he was withdrawn for Vicente.
Marvin Ducksch 5
Ducksch had two shots – including a goal – in a 10-minute spell after half-time where he came alive, but the other 80 minutes showed the other side of the unpredictable attacker. He didn’t offer enough for his team.
Demarai Gray 5
You couldn’t help but feel Brittain had the measure of Gray. The Blues winger struggled to get down the outside of Brittain and didn’t offer his usual craft and quality from the left.
Demarai Gray during Birmingham City's game against Middlesbrough
Demarai Gray during Birmingham City's game against Middlesbrough(Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
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Jay Stansfield 6
Stansfield got a warm round of applause when he left the field from supporters who recognised he had given his all. The striker assisted Ducksch’s goal and tried not to let Boro’s defenders settle on the ball.
SUBS
Carlos Vicente (for Roberts, 65) 6
Vicente showed strength up against Malanda and won a free-kick in a dangerous position late on.
August Priske (for Stansfield, 65) 5.5
Priske battled Ayling and Fry without success. On the one aerial challenge he won cleanly, the referee gave a free-kick against him.
Paik Seung-ho (for Osayi-Samuel, 72) 5.5
Looked a bit rusty after four games out. He will likely play against Charlton on Saturday though.
Ibrahim Osman (for Gray, 72) 5
Overran the ball a couple of times. Blues need a bit more from Osman again.
Ethan Laird (for Panzo, 84) N/A
Not used: Allsop, Neumann, Fujimoto, Kyogo
Attendance: 26,918
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