Middlesbrough 2 (Emnes 76, McDonald 87) Charlton 2 (Pritchard 1, Williams o.g 17).
Kevin Nolan reports from the Riverside Stadium.
No jolly jester at the best of times, Middlesbrough boss Tony Mowbray looked like he had a stone in his shoe after his side had come from behind to salvage a decent draw from this entertaining game.
“With respect” (brace yourself for the inevitable disrespect), “we should be beating sides like Charlton at our place”, he announced with what can only be described as a straight face. Tone’s a gloomy cove and it’s not often his face is anything but straight but his slight simply cannot go unchallenged. I mean, you can spit on a fan’s floor and call his cat a motheaten so-and-so but you can’t get away with dissing his football team. You go too far, Mr. Mowbray. Satisfaction is demanded.
To be fair, though, the head-to-head statistical record offers the beleaguered manager unimpeachable evidence for his comment. It shows that Boro had won 35, Charlton 34, with 18 draws in their previous 87 league encounters. That slender but undeniably decisive advantage probably justifies in his mind his airy dismissal of the Addicks but it might also symbolise precisely the sort of misplaced hubris that will keep the Teesiders beneath their visitors in the final Championship league table. You need to lighten up, mate. And mind your manners. You’ve been told.
With respect, dogeared Boro had done rather well at their place to recover from a first half drubbing and snatch a worthy point from a better side. Mr. M didn’t mention, of course, that his outclassed players had been favoured by one or two contentious refereeing decisions on their way to redemption. He should have been savouring the draw, not bellyaching about it.
A side like Middlesbrough could hardly afford to fall behind with less than a minute played but that’s exactly what they managed to do. They were ballwatching spectators as Yann Kermorgant threaded a pass through for Ricardo Fuller to cross from the left byline and the onrushing Bradley Pritchard to crash a rising drive into the roof of the net.
Some nine minutes later, Boro were helped out of the hole they were digging for themselves by the first of referee Darren Drysdale’s charitable contributions. Centre back Rhys Williams’ crude trip on Fuller inside the area was as clear a penalty as you’re likely to come across (unless you’re garrulous Ian Holloway, who is victimised by the “most blatant penalty I’ve ever seen in my life” on an almost weekly basis) but Drysdale remained unmoved. He won’t be so cocksure when he sneaks a look at the TV footage but he was adamant. And just as wrong.
Williams might have been still rattled when he conceded an own goal to double Charlton’s lead shortly after his brush with the law. His defensive partner Andre Bikey’s violent challenge on Fuller in the centre circle conceded a free kick, which the impressively calm Mark Gower hoisted to the far post, Kermorgant volleyed across the six-yard box and Williams turned into his own net.
With Gower and Danny Hollands deputising capably for recent linchpins Johnnie Jackson and Andy Hughes, the prospects for another comfortable road victory were encouraging. Kermorgant came close to making it three with a curling effort narrowly wide of the right post but, at the other end, Marvin Emnes’s determined solo run was brilliantly checked by Pritchard shortly before the interval.
Resuming in total control, the Addicks passed and moved crisply but, with Gower and Hollans possibly feeling the pace, took their foot off the attacking pedal. They were served a warning just past the hour when Emnes made a hash of a clearcut chance skilfully fashioned for him by effective substitutes Emmanuel Ledesma and Scott McDonald. And with less than a quarter hour left, their lead was halved.
Running on to Grant Leadbitter’s intelligently flighted pass, Emnes contrived a hastily shinned lob over a flummoxed Ben Hamer. Charlton had been abruptly removed from their comfort zone. The home side sensed the change.
Stung into response, the visitors were again let down by faulty officiating. Clearly onside as he converted Kermorgant’s short cross, Fuller’s close range tap-in was wrongly flagged by one of Drysdale’s unhelpful assistants. TV coverage revealed another officiating error but their bungling ways were far from over.
Heartened by their escape, Boro almost inevitably equalised in the 87th minute. Lively left winger Mustapha Carayol won a left wing corner off Michael Morrison, which he swung in to the far post. Delayed in the congestion zone as he left his line, Hamer was left helpless by McDonald’s firm header.
The implacable Drysdale had at least one more controversial decision in his incompetent repertoire. His added time verdict that Williams had fallen short of fouling Kermorgant in the area was forgiveable; not so his generous interpretation that Justin Hoyte’s panicky trip on substitute Jonathan Obika was legal. Chris Powell was livid; Mowbray non-commital; fill in your own blanks about Olly’s reaction.
What’s Crystal Palace’s manager doing in my report by the way? He wasn’t even there. He was up at Blackburn doing his nut. About a penalty which turned out not to be a penalty, of all things. Gertcha! Go on, on yer bike! Bloody liberty taker.
Middlesbrough: Steele, Hoyte, Rhys Williams, Bikey, Halliday, Reach (Ledesma 54), Leadbitter, Main (McDonald 54), Smallwood, Carayol, Emnes. Not used: Leutwiler, Bailey, Luke Williams, Burgess, Haroun.
Booked: Smallwood, Leadbitter.
Charlton: Hamer, Solly, Dervite, Morrison, Wiggins, Pritchard, Hollands, Gower, Harriott (Kerkar 80), Fuller (Obika 80), Kermorgant. Not used: Button, Taylor, Green, Haynes, Wilson.
Referee: Darren Drysdale. Att: 15,011.