A late equaliser denied Dave Shannon's lads all three points
in an even contest against the Teessiders. The visitors
were well worth a draw as they dominated the last twenty minutes
and really piled on the pressure. In fact, had it not been
for a string of fine saves by reds keeper Andy Marsh, Boro may
have came away with all three points.
The young reds had been very impressive when I had seen
them beat Crewe a few weeks ago, but they weren't as good today.
The first half was pretty scrappy, although the reds did put
together a few excellent moves, and were just about good value
for their half time lead, given to them with a fine goal from
livewire striker Mark Smyth.
Smyth latched onto strike partner Leon Noel's pass and fired
home a left foot shot into the bottom corner. It was a
good finish, although I don't think the Boro keeper will be
too pleased with it. Boro had some half chances of their
own, mainly through the good work of their left winger who was
giving reds right back Andy Wright a particularly hard time.
All of their attacks were coming down that side, but despite
finding themselves in some promising situations, the attacks
all came to nothing, either due to a poor final ball or a last
ditch tackle by a reds defender. As a result, reds keeper
Marsh didn't really have much to trouble him in the first half.
Not that his Boro counterpart was particularly over-worked either,
as the reds appeared to lack a cutting edge.
The midfield duo of Dawes and Mannix were competitive enough,
but weren't getting their foot on the ball and dictating the
play enough, whilst dangerman Mark Peers was starved of possession
out on the wing. Other than Smyth's goal, the only other
occasions the reds threatened was through an Andy Nicholas shot
from distance that went just wide, and when Peers played a good
one two on the edge of the box before shooting tamely straight
at the keeper.
Smyth almost doubled the lead when he latched onto an underhit
backpass, but the keeper closed him down well and managed to
block his shot. The first half was littered with stoppages
though, as the Boro physio was on the field on at least three
seperate occasions. This didn't help the flow of the game.
So it was one nil at the break, and the second half started
in much the same manner that the first ended. The reds
were on top, but only just. Ian Dawes was a lot more influential
in the second half, and had it not been for the string of fine
saves by Andy Marsh, Dawes would have been the reds' star man.
Dawes was involved in every reds attack, and was unlucky to
see one stunning long range effort go just over the bar.
Alongside him, the classy David Mannix showed that as well as
being an excellent passer, he can put his foot in too, and they
linked up pretty well in the second half.
As the half wore on though, Boro really came into the game.
Marsh had to pull off three outstanding saves from one on one
situations, as the visitors carved gaping holes the reds rearguard.
To be fair to Boro, some of their football was excellent, although
they were often guilty of trying to walk the ball into the net
at times. A goal was looking likely, and it was no surprise
when it came with about ten minutes to go. Marsh had no
chance, as he was unsighted, and ultimately wrongfooted by a
shot from the edge of the box that found it's way into the corner.
The reds had brought on top scorer Jason Massie in place
of the ineffective Mark Thomas, but Massie didn't see much of
the ball as Boro dominated the final twenty minutes. Smyth
was also replaced by Matty Murray, but he too didn't have much
chance to shine, although he did show some nice touches in the
short time he was on.
Overall, it wasn't a great performance. I thought
Chambers was the reds best defender, whilst Dawes and Smyth
performed well. Mannix looks a good prospect, and sprayed
the ball about well on occasion, but too many players were below
par today.
TEAM: Andy Marsh; Andy Wright, David Chambers, Zak
Whitbread, Andy Nicholas; Mark Peers, David Mannix, Ian Dawes,
Mark Thomas (Jason Massie); Mark Smyth (Matty Murray), Leon
Noel:
