Source: Northern_Echo
Boro race to victory
THE NEW owners of Redcar's blast furnace SSI last week launched a recruitment campaign with billboards around the area proclaiming that Teesside is "made of steel" - and Tony Mowbray's Middlesbrough showed that, in football terms, that was definitely the case after they came from behind to register an impressive victory against Birmingham City.[LNB] Boro have been on a recruitment drive of their own, and it was two bargain-basement transfers who swung an exciting encounter in the hosts' favour in the second half.[LNB] Faris Haroun and Malaury Martin scored their first goals of their Middlesbrough careers after replacing Scott McDonald and Julio Arca respectively, after Barry Robson's free-kick had cancelled out Adam Rooney's penalty for the visitors.[LNB] Haroun, signed from Jupiler Pro League outfit Germinal Beerschot in midweek, announced his arrival in English football with a cool finish on 70 minutes, while he showed his qualities as a goal-maker with a neat pass to Martin, signed from Blackpool in the close season, to score a sublime goal on 73 minutes.[LNB] Birmingham had gone in at half-time 1-0 up through an Adam Rooney penalty after Chris Burke had been pulled down by Carl Ikeme in the Boro goal on 36 minutes, but Robson restored parity in the 48th minute when his free-kick evaded Boaz Myhill at the near post.[LNB] The win put Boro in third place in the npower Championship, with Coventry City the next visitors to the Riverside in a week's time. Meanwhile, Mowbray's Boro negotiate a tricky Carling Cup tie at Peterborough - two teams who could still be battling at the top end of the table in the coming months[LNB] For Middlesbrough, Sunday afternoons in the Championship have rarely been an exciting affair - at times during the first half the game was played in near silence as both teams cancelled each other out.[LNB] But the second half was much more exciting for the 17,567 crowd as Boro looked to take advantage of a tiring Birmingham City - who had been playing Europa League football on Thursday night.[LNB] On 11 minutes, Robson tested Birmingham goalkeeper Myhill with a stinging shot that was too hot for the former Hull City stopper to handle. At the other end, striker Rooney was inches away from Burke's ball across Ikeme's posts.[LNB] A McDonald shot from Nicky Bailey's clever backheel saw Myhill parry, then gather under pressure from Boro's top-scorer Marvin Emnes.[LNB] Then Emnes' mazy run and shot on 26 minutes was deflected by a Birmingham defender and Myhill did very well to scoop the goalbound ball to safety.[LNB] Such was the sleepy nature of the encounter, a klaxon sounded on the half-hour mark which was either set off in error or designed to raise some fans from a mid-game snooze.[LNB] But the match was brought into life on 35 minutes when Ikeme needlessly pulled Burke down in the box to concede a penalty. Ikeme had initially spilled a Jonathan Spector shot and while he denied a Rooney attack, Burke took the loose ball past Ikeme and was hauled to the ground.[LNB] The supporters in the North Stand protested the decision, but on first glance it appeared that referee Mark Brown was more than entitled to give the spot kick, which was coolly despatched into Ikeme's right hand corner by Rooney.[LNB] Brown was booed off by the Boro supporters at half-time, but he made an attempt at restoring their confidence a minute after the restart when he gave a direct free kick after Emnes was felled.[LNB] Robson's low free-kick evaded the wall and Myhill's near post. The City goalkeeper could only nudge the shot on to the post and into the back of the net.[LNB] Curtis Davies - who Mowbray managed at West Bromwich Albion - had to be on his toes to head Robson's cross into safety after Myhill had fluffed his lines. Myhill atoned for the error with a commanding punch out from the resultant Tony McMahon corner.[LNB] Mowbray gave Haroun his first taste of English football, bringing the Belgian international into the fray at half-time, and on 66 minutes he almost opened his Boro account. The gangly midfielder was picked out in space in the box and his shot was deflected out for a corner.[LNB] However, he went one better on 70 minutes when, after decent work from Joe Bennett on the left, the ball squirmed through a crowd of City players and Haroun tapped home.[LNB] The goalscorer turned provider on 73 minutes when he picked out substitute Martin, who - in acres of space - picked out an inch-perfect strike high past Myhill in the City goal.[LNB] Not only did Mowbray's team show great mental character to get back into the game, the Boro manager will be most pleased that once it hit 3-1 it stayed that way and Birmingham were not allowed to get back into the game. That, after all of the late points dropped last season, surely must be the biggest indicator of the progress made under Mowbray.[LNB]
