Middlesbrough have a first Championship win, Barnsley have problems

The conditions were horrible and the 2-1 victory over Barnsley not as comfortable as it ought to have been. Somehow Middlesbrough's first Championship win of the season felt like a fitting way to mark 1,500 matches of Neil Warnock as a league manager.
GOAL: Jonathan HowsonGOAL: Jonathan Howson
GOAL: Jonathan Howson

After a brilliant escape from relegation last season, Barnsley have not got going this time around, still to win in the Championship since memorably signing off at Griffin Park in July.

The goals have dried up, so to see the defence so error-strewn is a big worry. Just whose problem it will be is unclear with coach Gerhard Struber not hiding the fact his agent is talking to other clubs – New York Red Bulls at the moment. With a buy-out clause in his contract, Barnsley are powerless to keep him if he decides to walk away.

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Saturday in Middlesbrough was not a day to persuade him to turn down the Big Apple. It was grey and wet, but not as miserable as some of Barnsley's football, which lacked any cutting edge or security

A Middlesbrough team who were themselves looking for a first Championship victory of the campaign - and their first win at home since Boxing Day - were able to grit their teeth and reach Warnock's landmark if not in style, then certainly appropriately.

In teeming rain, the quality of football between the sides was not always high, but nobody could argue that Boro deserved their three points. At least Barnsley could cheer themselves with a much-needed goal for Cauley Woodrow, their first in this season's Championship. There was precious little else to cling to.

Chuba Akpom ought to have followed up his debut goal in the first 15 minutes, but his shooting was poor in the first half of his maiden Riverside appearance. Barnsley's genoristy ensured he was able to put that right after the restart.

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A defensive mix-up as Mads Anderson and Michal Heilik got in one another's way presented Akpom with an excellent opportunity but the centre-forward shot wide.

That said, a miserable day was brightened not just by Barnsley's yellow kit but also the odd flash of good play. Inevitably Alex Mowatt provided some, but when he played a gorgeous pass which allowed Dominik Frieser to spin his man and run into space, the Austrian turned the wrong way, and into trouble.

Struber had changed his goalkeepers for the game and Brad Collins played well in the first half but, with his back three making his life awkward, he would provide an unfortunate decisive contribution to the second.

Collins came racing off his line in the 17th minute to clear a long ball with his head before right wing-back Marcus Tavernier could get to it. Minutes later when George Saville got a diving header on Paddy McNair's free-kick, the goalkeeper finger-tipped the ball behind.

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Callum Styles hit a dangerous free-kick over after Sam Morsy was booked for a foul on Luke Thomas, and Barnsley had penalty appeals waved away when Marcel Ritzmaier took a tumble in the area. Referee Oliver Langford called the midfielder over to tell him off for what he must have seen as acting when the ball went out of play, but kept the yellow card in his pocket.

In between time Mowatt shot over after a good one-two into Woodrow and Boro had a goal chalked off.

The deflection on Morsy's 37th-minute shot left Collins helpless but he was still able to make a difference, racing over to the linesman to berate him. As a result, Langford came over for a chat and sided with the goalkeeper, ruling Akpom had been in offside position when the ball came off his back.

It looked like Boro might go in at half-time frustrated but a foul by Heilik on Britt Assombalonga, trying to twist his body around the striker to win a ball that, in the 21st Century, he was never going to be able to legally win, gave Tavernier a free-kick the best part of 30 yards out in first-half stoppage time. Tavernier hammered it against the crossbar but Saville headed itacross for Jonathan Howson to volley in.

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Boro quickly doubled their lead and – it seemed even at that stage secured the win – when another Tavernier shot led to a goal, Collins fumbling for Akpom to tap in after 48 minutes.

When substitute Victor Adeboyejo was handed a promising free-kick by Howson's clumsy foul on Thomas, the boot into the empty seats seemed to sum things up for Barnsley. When Mowatt chipped up a late free-kick for Anderson to head across, Heilik headed a great opportunity onto the roof of the net.

With Collins almost undone by a back-header from Michael Solbauer, not realising his goalkeeper had come off the line, and forced to save from Heilik when the centre-back got a touch on Marc Bola's cross, it looked like a day to forget for Barnsley.

They were, though, able to take something from it, when Howson fouled Woodrow in the 89th minute. The striker stepped up to convert the penalty for his first goal since February.

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It made the final six minutes more uncomfortable than it ought to have been for Boro, but they have their first win of the campaign.

Middlesbrough: Bettinelli; Dijksteel, Fry, McNair; Tavernier, Howson, Bola; Morsy, Saville; Assombalonga, Akpom (Coulson 87).

Unused substitutes: Stojanovic, Wood, Spence, Johnson, Wing, Browne.

Barnsley: Collins; Solbauer, Heilik, Anderson; J Williams, Mowatt, Ritzmaier (Ludewig 51), Styles; Thomas (Simoes 68), Frieser (Adeboyejo 46); Woodrow.

Unused substitutes: Walton, Odour, Chaplin, Schmidt.

Referee: O Langford (West Midlands).

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