Mowbray urges Boro to be more ruthless

Boro head into their first league meeting with the Cherries since February 1990 on the back of a 2-2 draw at Nottingham Forest, with the Teessiders letting slip a 2-0 lead.

At a side tipped to be firmly in the automatic promotion stakes come the spring, Boro dominated, football wise, only for some poor defending to blot their copybook and enable Forest to salvage a draw.

Similar weak defensive traits have blotted several other games this season, including last weekend’s loss at Ipswich, with the feeling that Boro do not do the ugly things well enough and are a nice side to play against inescapable to avoid.

Sides have certainly enjoyed their excursions to the Riverside this term, with Boro having laid out the welcome mat to concede a litany of soft goals, the upshot of which is that they are without a home win this season, with their last one arriving against midweek opponents Forest on April 16. It’s a source of genuine frustration to manager Mowbray, 
who feels a more ruthless and streetwise edge at both ends of the pitch would see Boro shoot up the table.

He said: “Looking at the Forest game, we matched them, I was delighted with our desire and effort on the night, it was fantastic.

“The dressing room was massively disappointed about losing a two-goal lead.

“It should have been our night. But I said to them ‘the top teams don’t lose two-goal leads’.

“There’s times when you need to put your foot to the ball and clear it 70 yards to release the pressure,” he said.

Boro go head-to-head with Cherries striker and summer target Tokelo Rantie this afternoon, with the South African international making his debut as a second-half sub in the midweek victory over Barnsley.

Mowbray was keen on signing the 23-year-old from Swedish side Malmo, but got priced out of the market with Cherries stepping in with a club record £2.6m move.

“We have an opportunity to take some points over the next four or five games,” Mowbray said.

“We have to be ruthless. Ultimately we need points to be where we want to be.”