Source: Northern_Echo
Pendry watches Boro concede late, late equaliser
IF this was Colin Cooper’s one and only match in charge of Middlesbrough, it came within seconds of being a winning one.
Just days after Gareth Southgate’s departure, the caretaker boss witnessed Boro claim a point at Deepdale that for a time looked like being the three that would take them back into the Championship’s top two this evening.
Gary O’Neil it was who fired Middlesbrough into the lead in the first half. His low-free-kick, after he was fouled by Paul Parry, buzzed through the wall and goalkeeper Andy Lonergan could only help the ball into the net.
That opening goal arrived two minutes before half-time and Cooper’s hopes of holding on were quashed when Parry pulled things level on the hour.
After Brad Jones, the Middlesbrough keeper, had denied Jon Parkin, the loose ball fell to Parry at the back post whose shot had too much for Jones.
Middlesbrough, though, were not to be outdone. With Garry Pendry apparently in the stands, who is likely to be installed as Gordon Strachan’s No 2 in the coming days, Adam Johnson showed him just what he is capable of.
Having had a largely uneventful afternoon, Johnson cruised into the Preston box, darted past former Sunderland defender Neill Collins before unleashing a low drive into Lonergan’s far corner.
It was Johnson’s ninth of the season, just days after he netted two in the win over Derby, and looked like lifting Middlesbrough above West Brom and Newcastle.
But then, in injury-time, Billy Jones arrived in the area to nod Ross Wallace’s centre down and beyond his namesake, Brad.
PRESTON (4-4-2): Lonergan; Jones, Collins, Chilvers, Nolan; Parry, Shumulikoski (Chaplow 57), Carter (Brown 78), Wallace; Parkin, Mellor (Elliott 90). Subs: Hart, Mawene, Sedgwick, Henderson (gk). MIDDLESBROUGH (4-4-2): Jones; Hoyte, Wheater, St Ledger, Bennett 7; O’Neil, Digard, Williams, Johnson; Lita, Emnes (Franks 90). Subs: Coyne (gk), Pogatetz, Yeates, Grounds, McMahon, Arca.
