Middlesbrough pay penalty for poor first-half showing in defeat to Crewe Alexandra

Boro were eventually made to pay for two disappointing goals in a poor first-half performance against David Artell’s side, as boos rang out in a sparsely-occupied Riverside Stadium.

While Crewe scored all four of their spot-kicks, Boro ended up losing after two awful penalties from Britt Assombalonga and Marcus Browne.

Chris Porter had put the visitors ahead in the 41st minute, even if there was a hint of fortune about it. The striker turned in Olly Lancashire’s effort from close range after some clever work from Charlie Kirk when a corner had not been dealt with.

And less than four minutes later Kirk was the scorer himself. This time he worked his way free in the Middlesbrough penalty area and was picked out by Owen Dale after the hosts had lost possession, again. Kirk found the inside of Aynsley Pears’ far post.

Substitute Ashley Fletcher curled Middlesbrough back into it before Marc Bola marked his debut by hammering in a low equaliser in the first minute of stoppage-time to send the game to penalties.

Middlesbrough: Pears, Dijksteel, Wood-Gordon, Friend, Bola, Tavernier, Clayton (McNair 46), Saville, Browne, Gestede (Fletcher 61), Walker (Assombalonga 46). Unused substitutes: Mejias, Shotton, Johnson, Liddle.

Crewe: Richards, Ng, Lancashire (Sass-Davies 74), Nolan, Pickering, Ainley (Green 77), Lowery (Jones 82), Wintle, Kirk, Porter, Dale. Unused substitutes: Jaaskelainen, Finney, Reilly, Adebisi.

Referee: M Salisbury (Lancashire).