Source: Northern_Echo
Cardiff City 1 Middlesbrough 0
Cardiff City 1 Middlesbrough 0[LNB] YOU'VE seen your best players sold and your team turn a promising start to the season into a mid-table berth with the play-offs an outside bet at best.[LNB] With that on their plates Middlesbrough fans may think they've got it tough.[LNB] They want to take a close look at their south Wales counterparts.[LNB] Around 500 marched to the Cardiff City Stadium in protest against their chairman Peter Ridsdale, who is scouring the globe seeking investment.[LNB] He failed to deliver on cash promised for players in January and the club are in the High Court this week over an unpaid £1.7m tax bill.[LNB] The woes of Boro pale into insignificance but five points off sixth spot having played more games than all the teams currently occupying the play-off places wasn't in the plans of chairman Steve Gibson.[LNB] There appears little chance of the people of Teesside marching for anything other than saving jobs at Corus.[LNB] Save our Season can't compete with Save our Steelworks.[LNB] But any steel on show in the first half on Saturday was of the Welsh variety. It was among Middlesbrough's worst 45 minutes of the season.[LNB] Out-muscled, out-thought and comprehensively outplayed with not an effort on goal of note. The only positive to take from the opening half was that they weren't two down.[LNB] It could have been worse if Darren Deadman born to be a referee hadn't adjudged Chris Burke had taken a dive when Gary O'Neil made contact in the box just before halftime.[LNB] O'Neil looked guilty but the yellow card Deadman was waving was directed at Burke.[LNB] If Gordon Strachan thought there'd be more favours from the officials he was to be proved very wrong just after the hour mark.[LNB] With Boro in the ascendancy a free-kick on the right was whipped in by Barry Robson and David Wheater's flicked header nestled in the bottom corner of David Marshall's goal.[LNB] But Deadman's assistant was waving furiously and a foul was given against Leroy Lita for handball.[LNB] The angry reaction was led by the vocal Robson who earned himself a booking for his protests with Lita earning one for his handball.[LNB] Lita said he didn't make contact but quite what his hands were doing waving around his head only he will know.[LNB] Substitute Rhys Williams echoed the views of the Middlesbrough players who were still trying to understand why the goal was disallowed.[LNB] I can't see what the referee has seen there to be honest.[LNB] He gave it for handball against Leroy and he wasn't anywhere near the ball. It's a strange one and it showed it wasn't our day, said Williams.[LNB] We came to get a point at least if not a win- we deserved a lot more with all the chances we had.[LNB] But we are only three or four points off the play-offs and I was on loan last season at Burnley so I know anything can happen in this league. Put a few wins together and you're back up there. We've got 11 games to go so we're ready for the battle.[LNB] Boro continued to create chances with Marshall and striker Jay Bothroyd providing an adequate last line of defence.[LNB] A save from a O'Neill free kick and a Chris Killen header among Marshall's best work with striker Bothroyd scrambling off the line following McManus' effort.[LNB] Despite feeling his side could have got something from the match for their second half endeavours Strachan did admit they weren't good enough.[LNB] He said: We should have got something out of the game because we made enough chances to win a couple of games but we weren't good enough to take those chances. We've played a lot worse in recent months and won games.[LNB] They got going in the first 15 minutes because we didn't play the pitch.[LNB] We should have had a goal but the referee claimed Leroy Lita handled. That was the biggest surprise, because it was David Wheater who scored and there's a big difference between them if you look closely![LNB] Hopefully the play-off race will go to the wire which will help us to get right in there, but today we just weren't good enough.[LNB] Middlesbrough will discover today the damage to Willo Flood's knee after the midfielder was forced off early in the second half after a clash with Cardiff 's Kevin McNaughton.[LNB] Match facts Goal:[LNB] 1-0: Bothroyd (3, slid in at far post after Boro defence failed to deal with routine ball in)[LNB] Bookings: McManus (13, foul), Burke (45, diving), Robson (61, dissent), Lita (61, handball)[LNB] Referee: Darren Deadman (Peterborough) some strange decisions that annoyed both teams 4[LNB] Attendance: 19,803[LNB] Entertainment: [LNB] CARDIFF CITY (4-4-2):[LNB] Marshall 7; Matthews 6, Gerrard, 6, Gyepes 7, McNaughton 5; BURKE 8, Blake 7 (Capaldi, 90), Rae 6, McCormack 5; Chopra 5, Bothroyd 7. Subs (not used): Enckelman (gk), Quinn, Taiwo, Wildig, Feeney, Meades[LNB] MIDDLESBROUGH (4-4-2):[LNB] 6 Coyne: Left exposed for the goal and little to do after that[LNB] 5 Naughton: Must learn that full-backs are supposed to go forward now and again[LNB] 6 Wheater: Recovered well after the goal and kept Chopra's threat to a minimum[LNB] 5 McManus: Seemed to be marking space early on and never fully recovered[LNB] 7 TAYLOR: One great headed clearance and got forward regularly after the break[LNB] 5 Flood: Lots of endeavour but little creativity in the final third[LNB] 5 O'Neil: Seemed to want to run into space occupied by Robson too often[LNB] 6 Robson: Great delivery after the break and never let his team-mates heads drop[LNB] 4A rca: His days playing wide left appear well behind him[LNB] 5 Aliadiere: Clattered early on and little effect before his withdrawl[LNB] 5 Lita: Should have scored with a header and should have kept his arms down[LNB] Subs;[LNB] Killen (for Aliadiere, 40): Put himself around and produced a fingertip save from David Marshall 6 R Williams (for Flood, 53): Worked hard to impose himself in midfield after long injury lay-off 6 (not used): Jones (gk), Miller, Bennett, Franks, Grounds[LNB] MAN OF THE MATCH[LNB] CHRIS Burke his direct running had Boro chasing shadows especially in the first half.[LNB]
