Flood prevents Boro's Riverslide continuing

23 January 2010 17:06
WILLO FLOOD capped his home debut with a freak goal that prevented Middlesbrough crashing to another sorry Championship defeat this afternoon.[LNB] The tenacious midfielder, playing on the wing, had endured a frustrating outing at the Riverside Stadium, with Swansea edging ahead shortly after half-time.[LNB] The Swans, sitting fourth in the table and hoping to close the gap on the automatic promotion places, had survived numerous scares in the first half with Leroy Lita guilty of wasting two fantastic chances.[LNB] And Boro's failure to convert paved the way for striker Gorka Pintado to find Danny Coyne's top right corner after a neat cross from Joe Allen.[LNB] That arrived less than 90 seconds after the restart and led many Boro fans - from a record low number for a league game of 16, 847 - to believe another reversal was on the horizon.[LNB] However, 11 minutes later, those fans that had decided to stick around witnessed Flood's attempt to cross from the right fly high over Dorus De Vries to grab an unlikely equaliser.[LNB] From that moment on it was Middlesbrough who looked the stronger. But, despite Chris Killen going close twice and teenager Luke Williams firing a yard wide, De Vries was never seriously tested again and a draw was the outcome.[LNB] It is a result that leaves Gordon Strachan's men off the pace ahead of Tuesday's trip to Doncaster and next Saturday's visit from Bristol City.[LNB] MIDDLESBROUGH (4-4-2): Coyne; McMahon (Bennett 79), Riggott (Grounds 90), Wheater, Hoyte; Flood, O'Neil, Arca, Johnson; Killen, Lita (Williams 79). Subs: Steele, Walker, Pilatos, Park.[LNB] SWANSEA CITY (4-1-4-1): De Vries; Tate, Williams, Monk, Bessone; Britton; Dyer (Butler 68), Allen (Gower 87), Pratley, Cotterill; Pintado (Beattie 71). Subs: Cornell, Orlandi, Trundle, Rangel.[LNB]

Source: Northern_Echo