Andy Munro argues that Blues deserved more than a draw at home to Middlesbrough.
After a fairly eventful first half when we generally bossed play but Boro had the slightly clearer chances, the visitors rubbed it in with a late goal just before the half-time whistle.
However, we took the game by the scruff of the game in the second period to go 2-1 up before Boro scored a controversial goal to earn a slightly undeserved share of the points. That equaliser was a 50:50 between a foul on the keeper or a keeper mishandling under pressure. Usually in that scenario, the referee favours the defence but typically for Blues, not in this case
There were, however, some fine performances with the back four excellent and perhaps the star performers both full-backs, who defended well but equally looked impressive going forward. Jhon Solis almost ran midfield on his own and perhaps he needed to. with another couple of uninspiring performances from Paik Seung-ho and Tomoki Iwata.
Up front, Liam Millar was generally excellent and cooly slotted home his goal whilst on the other flank Carlos Vicente worked tremendously hard without really creating much, bearing in mind his £7 million price tag.
Although Blues’ second goal was registered as an OG, it was all credit to Jay Stansfield, who still looks more comfortable (and dangerous) playing down the middle. Luis Vasquez tried his hardest and couldn’t be faulted for effort but everything about him, pace, heading ability, hold up play and the rest warrants a mediocre six out of ten score.
Marvin Ducksch came on to a mixed reception and was decent without setting things alight and one has to query the wisdom in signing him and Vasquez.
So, a reasonable overall performance and a decent result, even if it was disappointing in the final analysis If only we could have turned a couple of draws into wins but our points tally probably reflects where we are.
One point for consideration is that Patrick Roberts now HAS to start the next game!
