Middlesbrough captain Jonny Howson spared his side’s blushes with a late strike after a below par performance away to Huddersfield.
Howson’s volley, that was struck into the ground and hit the net after glancing the underside of the cross bar, came in the 84th minute, literally moments after he had seen his own penalty saved by Huddersfield debutant Jacob Chapman. It sealed a vital 2-1 victory after their Boxing Day disappointment away to Rotherham.
You could be forgiven for thinking that the penalty miss was Boro’s most glaring miss of the evening, (in truth it was an excellent save by the Huddersfield keeper), but no, Isaiah Jones’ first half misdemeanour was the stuff of nightmares. He burst through the Terriers’ back line and dinked the ball over the onrushing keeper, then as he shaped up to volley the ball home from a yard out, he somehow conspired to lean away from the ball and smash a pocket of thin air, missing the ball completely, allowing a Huddersfield defender to clear. That was at 0-0, and it felt like it was going to be one of those games, even more so with Howson’s late penalty miss at 1-1. Thankfully, Boro managed to find a way and those moments did not prove costly.
Below par Boro
Michael Carrick, who spoke to the media via his post-match interview on the club website, acknowledged that his side were not at their best. “Crazy game, crazy game.” said the Boro boss.
“Totally opposite to the Rotherham game where we played ever so well and didn’t get anything. Today, we weren’t at our best but we stuck together, the boys found a way, it was chaotic at times, the weather didn’t help.
“Credit to Huddersfield, the way they played, they made it difficult but moments of quality made the difference for us. It was a grind, but sometimes it’s nice to win like that and to celebrate Jonny’s goal like that, you can feel how much it meant to everybody.
Middlesbrough certainly weren’t at their best and even though they had the chances from Jones and Jonny Howson’s penalty, it was not one way traffic. Huddersfield had their own moments in the game, hitting the cross bar in the first half after Aussie keeper, Tom Glover went walkabout outside his area, and obviously scoring to equalise in the second half after Josh Coburn’s cultured finish had put Boro one-nil up.
Carrick’s side rode their luck
In truth, Michael Carrick’s patched together line-up rode their luck a little. The footballing gods that had frowned upon them against Rotherham, where they were denied an almost certain penalty after controlling the game, this time appeared to be working in their favour. The penalty that was awarded for the challenge on Morgan Rogers was not a gift, but definitely falls into the ‘I’ve seen them waved away’ category. In fact, the Bangura one against Rotherham was much more clear-cut. Morgan Rogers toe-ended the ball past the defender and seemed to anticipate the inbound contact lets say.
Even though the penalty was not scored, Howson’s lashed effort came from the resultant corner, with Matt Clarke making a nuisance of himself in the Huddersfield box, knocking down for Jonny to set himself perfectly.
Captain consistent
Howson was once again one of Boro’s better performers in the contest, as he is most weeks. His standards at the age of 35 are incredible and Carrick is lucky to have such a valuable concoction of experience and energy in the middle of the park. The club captain actually became Middlesbrough’s oldest all time Championship goal scorer at 35 years and 125 days, eclipsing his club coach Jonathan Woodgate who was 35 years and 20 days when he bagged for the Teesside club.
With Hayden Hackney out, and Dan Barlaser occupying a deep playmaker role, Howson has pushed on to support attacks where possible in games, and Boro-who now have three wins out of four-will be massively appreciative of his recent good form.
Michael Carrick will now reset and assess his decimated squad ahead of the home clash with Coventry. If they can keep picking up points with their threadbare group, it will make for a very interesting second half of the season, especially when key players return. They are now just three points from the play-offs.