Middlesbrough vs Swansea City. Sky Bet Championship.
Riverside StadiumAttendance23,672.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Middlesbrough and Swansea at the Riverside Stadium as Riley McGree and Matt Crooks steered Chris Wilder's Boro side to a first win of the season.
Saturday 27 August 2022 18:33, UK
Middlesbrough ended their five match winless start to the Championship season as goals from Riley McGree and Matt Crooks earned a 2-1 win over 10-man Swansea.
Joel Piroe replied with a penalty late in the second half but the Swans were left with too much to do to get back into the game after Ben Cabango was sent off late on.
After a quiet start, the game got a much-needed spark through a Swansea mistake.
Cameron Congreve was the guilty party as a loose pass found its way to Crooks and Boro would make them pay on the counter attack.
Crooks fed a through ball to McGree who was charging into the attacking third and one touch to control the ball was followed by a calm finish into the bottom right corner.
For the first time in four league games, Boro led instead of falling behind.
A second came in quick succession but this was a well-worked move rather than a counter attack.
Matt Clarke and Ryan Giles were at the heart of the build up and a neat one-two freed up the run of the full-back down the left. His cutback at the byline was met by the sliding Crooks who stretched out a toe to prod the ball into the bottom corner.
It took the Swans until stoppage time to register their first meaningful effort as Piroe let fly from 30 yards. Liam Roberts, who was in for the injured Zack Steffen, dived across and saw the ball whizz inches passed the post.
Rodrigo Muniz was handed his Boro debut in the second half and with his first touch of the ball, the Brazilian latched on to a Crooks cross and cannoned a first time volley off the post.
Russell Martin's side were trying to get into the game. Liam Cullen's looping header from a cross into the box forced Roberts into a smart save on his line.
The away side were handed a lifeline when referee Bobby Madley awarded them a penalty for handball by Darragh Lenihan. Piroe stepped up from 12 yards and sent Roberts the wrong way with 11 minutes to go.
Tempers flared off the ball when Isaiah Jones was shoved to the floor by the already cautioned Cabango. After a mass melee, Madley had no alternative other than to send Cabango for his marching orders.
Boro held out a late onslaught during eight minutes of stoppage time and tasted victory for the first time this season.
Middlesbrough's Chris Wilder: "It was a right difficult game. Swansea is probably the hardest game in a lot of ways. The way they play is obviously how Russell (Martin) wants his team to play. That's really difficult to play against. We had to show a really disciplined side to us because when we get beat at Reading, everyone in the ground wants to go 'come on, let's press and get after them'. That is part of the game.
"I think we are quite good at pressing but Swansea is possibly the hardest game to play. When you're looking at who you want to play after you have not got a result after five games, it certainly isn't Swansea. I've said to the players it was always going to be one of those games. Whoever it was we were playing against, it was always going to be a comfortable afternoon or something happens with a penalty which I still don't understand."
Swansea's Russell Martin: "We started the game really well, loads of purpose and control. We make a mistake and don't react well enough to it. That's a sign of where we're at the minute, we're really getting punished for those mistakes. It's probably a sign of having a young team. We had a wobble for 10 minutes which leads to the second goal. After that, the boys couldn't give us any more in the second half.
"It felt like it was coming, and it did, we got the goal, but Ben makes a mad decision. It's not the reason we don't go on to get something because we were still so dominant, we looked like we were really dangerous, but that decision and getting sent off is probably a sign of where we're at. We played brilliantly until we got to their final third, and that was because of a lack of intensity on the top line."
