Dyer on the radar as Jutkiewicz spares 
the blushes for Boro

MANAGER Tony Mowbray breathed a sigh of relief after Middlesbrough edged into the last 16 at the expense of plucky Aldershot.

With two minutes remaining at the Riverside Stadium, Shots striker Danny Hylton scored his eighth FA Cup goal in four games and looked to have set up a lucrative replay for the League Two side following Lukas Jutkiewicz’s late opener.

Hylton still leads the scoring charts, but Jutkiewicz ensured he will not add to his tally by sparing Boro a trip to Hampshire with a winner five minutes into stoppage time.

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Boro had struggled to convert their chances against a resilient Aldershot side, who might have trailed 3-0 at the break but for goalkeeper Jamie Young.

Mowbray has identified midfielder Kieron Dyer, recently released by QPR, as a possible solution to Boro’s lack of creativity. “I’ve had some conversations with Kieron, ” said Mowbray. “If Kieron was fit and playing for us then he would be a huge asset for our club.

“I’ve watched some footage of him playing against Gareth Bale for QPR and he did well.

“He’s scored in the FA Cup against West Brom and he’s been available, fit and playing. I’ll have to see if something can be done and we might be close to that.

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“If Kieron plays football for us and helps win football matches then I think he would be an asset.”

Shots chief Dean Holdsworth was left wondering what might have been after elation turned to disappointment inside 10 frantic minutes.

When asked if the result was a cruel one, he said: “It certainly is for the players and everyone associated with us because I felt we’d earned a replay.

“We’ve had a fantastic display of commitment from the players and we took our goal fantastically well.

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“In the dying seconds, we had it ripped away from us and that’s a big blow for the players.

“This is a fantastic football club and there were some good players against us, but we’ve held our own. The players will be very down in the dumps now because they deserve a lot more than what they got, but we go back to work on Monday morning.

“The challenge for the rest of the season is for the players to show exactly what they have done, home and away, and push on in the division.”

Middlesbrough: Steele, Bikey, Rhys Williams, Hines (Leadbitter 78), Parnaby, Reach, Zemmama, Bailey, Smallwood (Halliday 61), Emnes (Ledesma 61), Jutkiewicz. Unused substitutes: Leutwiler, McManus, Main, Haroun.

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Aldershot Town: Young, Herd, Brown, Bradley, Aaron Morris, Cadogan (Mekki 78), Hector (Rankine 87), Rose, Vincenti, Hylton, Reid (Risser 69). Unused substitutes: Glenn Morris, Tonkin, Ainsworth, Cooksley.

Referee: A Madley (West Yorkshire).

Man of the match: Jamie Young.