North-East Sport
Mowbray content with Boro's winning blend
8:00am Wednesday 22nd February 2012
TONY Mowbray claimed last night's 3-1 win over Millwall proved Middlesbrough possess the right blend of strength and skill to maintain their promotion push in the final two months of the season.
For 45 minutes at The New Den, Boro's players completely outplayed their lacklustre opponents thanks to a combination of slick passing and incisive movement.
Marvin Emnes scored twice, taking his tally to three goals in the last two games, and a comfortable evening appeared in store.
Things changed when Darius Henderson pulled a goal back on the stroke of half-time, however, and for the majority of a fraught second half, the Teessiders were forced to display the kind of organisation and resolve that has not always been their forte.
Curtis Main's 86th-minute strike eventually made things safe, with the former Darlington trainee lashing into the roof of the net from ten yards, and Mowbray was left to reflect on an accomplished all-round display that propelled his side back into the Championship play-off places.
“This team have shown that we can do both sides of the game well,” said the Boro boss. “There have been days this season where we have played some lovely, expansive passing football and I think you saw elements of that here.
“But there's been other days where we've had to dig right in and I think you saw both elements in the two halves of the game. The quality of the team shone through in the first half, but the fighting spirit was there after the break.
“There was a great desire not to lose, and there aren't many teams in this league who have only lost six games out of 31. That's a credit to their ability to dig in. We have to keep going and hopefully use those qualities as we move into the last 15 games.”
Boro's first-half dominance should arguably have earned them more than the two goals they managed before the interval.
Lukas Jutkiewicz could have had a hat-trick inside the opening six minutes, while Emnes produced one of the misses of the season as he somehow headed over from less than three yards.
“I wasn't surprised by the way we started because I see the quality we possess every day in training,” said Mowbray. “It's sometimes just a case of being brave enough to play, as opposed to fighting teams instead.
“We've found it hard away from home to be as expansive as we were in the first half, but it's something we're capable of doing. We threatened their goal a lot, which was the pleasing thing, and had numerous chances early on.
“The game changed after the break, but we got the result at a tough place to come and that's the most important thing. Hopefully it'll give us the belief that we can continue to win games away from home.”
While Emnes and Jutkiewicz were the stars of the show before the break, Boro's second-half success owed much to a resolute defensive display from Matthew Bates and Seb Hines and two excellent saves from goalkeeper Jason Steele.
Main's late strike secured some breathing space, with the teenager lashing a rising past David Forde after coming off the substitutes' bench to replace Faris Haroun.
It was the South Shields-born youngster's first senior strike, but was not a surprise to Mowbray, who has seen him score 19 goals for Boro's development side this season.
“The coaching staff have all been waiting for an opportunity to drop to him because he has such pure feet,” said the Boro boss. “He can strike it beautifully with both feet, and when it did drop, he did just that.
“I'm delighted for him. He's far from the finished product and he still has a lot to work on in terms of his positional play and his game knowledge, yet if we can get the ball into those sort of areas around the box for him, he will score.”