BRISTOL CITY 2-2 MIDDLESBROUGH: Visitors fight back to rescue a point
Bristol City 2-2 Middlesbrough: Boro fightback to level through Aaron Ramsey and Matt Crooks, but two more dropped points severely dent their automatic promotion hopes
- Sam Bell and Harry Cornick took Bristol City into a 2-0 lead over Middlesbrough
- Aaron Ramsey and Matt Crooks scored to pull the visitors level at Ashton Gate
- But another two dropped points for Boro severely hits their hopes at promotion
Middlesbrough battled back from two goals down to draw at Bristol City but another two dropped points leaves their automatic promotion hopes dead and buried.
Michael Carrick’s side have now won just one of their last five games and a top-two tilt looks beyond them but the young manager will be buoyed by a pleasing second-half performance that saw them score two goals in six minutes to earn a fighting point.
This was an end-to-end thriller that could have gone either way. Last-ditch interventions by Boro players thwarted two early clear-cut chances, with Darragh Lenihan blocking a Harry Cornick shot on the line before Zack Steffen denied Andi Weimann at point-blank range.
Red-hot Chuba Akpom, the Championship’s top scorer, fluffed his lines after eight minutes with Boro’s best early opportunity when he headed a venomous Ryan Giles cross wide from six yards. Giles, with a league-high 11 assists this term, was a constant menace from left-back.
City took the lead on the stroke of half-time after a slick counter-attack ended in Cornick teeing up Sam Bell to slot home from close range. Cornick added a goal of his own four minutes into the second half with a tap-in after Bell and Nakhi Wells combined.
Matt Crooks pulled Middlesbrough level after 64 minutes to silence the Bristol City fans
Sam Bell opened the scoring for Bristol City deep in first-half stoppage time at Ashton Gate
A pair of wins over the Easter weekend often makes the difference between success and failure in a team’s promotion push so, by the same token, two losses can be catastrophic.
Middlesbrough looked to be falling on the wrong side of that line and, with it, their hopes of catching Sheffield United dashed. But two quick-fire strikes helped avoid what would’ve been a third straight defeat as Carrick’s side finally discovered their free-flowing style again.
Harry Cornick (R) and Aaron Ramsey were both on target in Monday’s Championship clash
Aaron Ramsey scored a thumping diving header after a clever chipped cross from Tommy Smith. Then Ramsey, on loan from Aston Villa, turned creator to pick out Matt Crooks unmarked in the box. He duly obliged by simply passing the ball into the goal to equalise.
Boro pushed forward in search of a winner and Carrick, in constant consultation with coach Jonathan Woodgate, threw on Riley McGree who nearly found the magic moment but was stopped by Max O’Leary.
But it was City who squandered the best chance of the final stages as Zak Vyner somehow hit the bar from close range after sneaking in at the back post.
Cameron Archer, another Villa loanee who came off the bench, put the ball in the net in stoppage time but was ruled correctly offside.
MATCH RATINGS
BRISTOL CITY (4-2-3-1): O’Leary 7.5; Tanner 6, Vyner 7, Pring 6, Dasilva 6; King 6 (Naismith 70mins, 6), James 6; Weimann 6.5, Cornick 7.5 (Conway 70, 6), Bell 7 (Mehmeti 75); Wells 6.5 (Taylor-Clarke 90).
Subs not used: Wiles-Richards, Wood, Leeson.
Booked: Vyner, King.
Manager: Nigel Pearson 7.
MIDDLESBROUGH (4-2-3-1): Steffen 7; Smith 5, McNair 6, Lenihan 6, Giles 7.5; Hackney 7, Howson 7; Forss 6.5 (McGree 84), Akpom 7, Ramsey 7.5; Crooks 6.5 (Archer 75).
Subs not used: Roberts, Mowatt, Barlaser, Dijksteel, Bola.
Booked: Smith.
Manager: Michael Carrick 6.
Referee: Tim Robinson 6.
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