Next-day analysis after Middlesbrough’s 2-2 draw with Swansea City
Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg claps the fans at full time(Image: Will Cooper/Shutterstock)
As the full-time whistle blew at Swansea City, the scenes on and off the pitch told its own story.
Boro had shown character in the second half, despite not being at their usual best, to fight back and claim a 2-2 draw. Callum Brittain won a penalty – the third in a dramatic but scrappy Championship clash in South Wales. Tommy Conway put the spot-kick away for his ninth of a disappointing season personally.
In isolation, it was not a bad away point. Swansea, since Vitor Matos took over, have lost only two of their 12 home games. They lost his first, and then more recently lost to champions-elect Coventry City. Other than that, unbeaten on home turf under the Portuguese head coach.
That probably went a long way to explain the scenes off the pitch at the end. Another sold-out away end, who’d made the 600-mile-plus round trip to support their team, applauded, despite yet more dropped points at such a critical stage of the season.
“The support was absolutely brilliant,” Hellberg said after. “I love that passion, I love that fight. The second half was a great example of how we can fight together, which is what we’re going to need to do in the final five games.”
This wasn’t Boro’s most complete performance. And yet, they still had over 20 shots at goal. They still had over 60% of the ball against a Swansea side who traditionally like to have the ball themselves. Even when not quite at their best, they were still the commanding side.
Ultimately, what cost them were individual errors. Two rash challenges in the penalty area, rush-of-blood moments leading to penalties that saw Boro’s early lead through Alex Bangura cancelled out.
Boro could have easily crumbled when 2-1 down at the interval. They could have given up in light of recent form and a second half which, until Brittain forced their moment, appeared to be another day where it just would not happen for them.
They didn’t do either of those things. They continued fighting, and it’s with that in mind that those Boro fans stood proudly applauding and singing as the players and Hellberg stood in front of them.
As for on the pitch, that told the other side of the story. Many players collapsed to the ground, akin to the beaten side at the full-time whistle of a major final.
It said a lot about the exhaustion after another huge effort, where lately, as Hellberg said after the Millwall defeat, it feels like Boro are fighting against a higher force with nothing quite dropping for them right now.
It also told the story of a team who know the implications of not just this result, but those that followed combined means. It’s not quite beaten finalists yet, but it’s getting close now.
Having once held their destiny in their own hands, Boro have long since surrendered that. In isolation this may have been a good away draw. But what it did was extend Boro’s winless run to five. They’ve won just two of their last 11 games.
The implications were plain to see on the faces of all the Boro players looking back to the passionate support who refused to turn on them.
Ayling, one of those who’d sunk to the floor at full-time, described after a dressing room that was flat. Aidan Morris, Middlesbrough’s mentality monster, who was once again an enormous figure in dragging Boro through the mire to at least take something back to Teesside, looked furious.
“We have to keep improving and keep fighting,” Hellberg resolutely told BBC Tees after. “It’s tough today because we feel again like we’ve done enough to win. But you have to do that.
“You cannot hide always behind the good performance. You have to win games. We’re not clinical and smart enough in some parts of the games. In other parts though, we’re absolutely brilliant.
“So it’s that balance, trying to help the players find that missing piece. For about 20 games in a row we’ve had performances that I believe are very, very good. If we could just start firing, I believe everything is there to be a side who can win eight-nine-however many games in a row.”
It’s evident Boro don’t really have that right now. Their struggle for goals and their lack of a clinical centre-forward is an obvious fall point of the side. A lack of depth is showing too, with the squad without a number of key players right now.
But they’re fighting. Individual errors are costly, no doubt, but this isn’t a team that have ‘bottled it’. It’s a side perhaps feeling the pressure, while down on their luck, but bottle it, they have not.
There’s no given right to win games. Every opponent has their own game plan, and their own desire to win. Boro, of late, just haven’t had enough quality to turn largely good performances into wins. It looks like, as far as a top-two finish is concerned, it might prove costly.
But Boro have to keep fighting. And we can all play our part in helping them do that. It’s advantage Ipswich Town, no doubt. But it’s not match point. There could be twists and turns to come yet. Boro will need more of the fight they showed in the second half.
But they’ll then need to match that with added quality and decision-making at both ends of the pitch. Hopefully, looking up while so disappointed at that incredible full-time reception from fans can prove some kind of inspiration for five huge games that follow. This isn’t over, but it needs to turn fast.
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