Middlesbrough 0 Rotherham United 3 - Matt Crooks leads Millers to Riverside win
Rotherham United gave their chances of avoiding relegation from the Sky Bet Championship a major boost as they claimed an emphatic 3-0 win at Middlesbrough.
The Millers remain in the bottom three but have moved to within two points of 21st-placed Derby thanks to goals from Matt Crooks, Michael Smith and Ryan Giles.
Middlesbrough have now lost three home games in the space of a fortnight, a run that has made a major dent in Neil Warnock’s side’s promotion ambitions.
Boro were marginally the more threatening team for the majority of a scrappy first half, but they should have fallen behind when Jonny Howson produced a rare error midway through the opening period.
The veteran midfielder left his back-pass to goalkeeper Bettinelli well short, but after nipping in to claim possession, Crooks side-footed a poor effort past the outside of the upright.
Given that he was clean through on goal, the Rotherham striker should really have scored, but he made up for his error by firing his side into the lead two minutes before the interval.
Smith’s shot was blocked, with the ball ballooning into the air inside the Middlesbrough penalty area. George Saville’s headed clearance was weak, and after latching on to the ball just outside the 18-yard box, Crooks drilled a crisp low finish past Bettinelli’s right hand.
Boro came close to claiming an equaliser at the start of the second half, but while Marc Bola’s cross was only cleared to Patrick Roberts, the Manchester City loanee fired over after swivelling in the box.
Sam Morsy drilled a low shot straight into the legs of Millers goalkeeper Jamal Blackman.
It was to be Boro’s last realistic chance of getting back into the game, with the Millers doubling their lead with 11 minutes left.
Michael Ihiekwe was chopped down by a desperate Bettinelli and Smith stepped up to claim his fifth goal in the last seven games from the spot.
Rotherham’s third goal saw 21-year-old substitute Giles stroke home a slick finish after he was teed up by Ben Wiles.
Middlesbrough: Bettinelli, Spence (Coulson 68), Wood-Gordon, McNair, Bola (Ashley Fletcher 83), Howson, Morsy, Saville, Roberts (Wing 68), Watmore (Johnson 83), Assombalonga (Akpom 68). Unused substitutes: Hall, Archer, Hackney.
Rotherham: Blackman, Ihiekwe, Wood, A MacDonald, S MacDonald (Hirst 68), Olosunde, Lindsay (Giles 88), Wiles, Harding, Smith, Crooks (Robertson 85). Unused substitutes: Johansson, Thompson, Ladapo, Clarke, Tilt.
Referee: M Salisbury (Lancashire).
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