Source: Northern_Echo
Reading 0 Middlesbrough 2
AFTER a week that saw Middlesbrough fans join their Leicester City counterparts in chants of Youre getting sacked in the morning directed at Gareth Southgate, youd be excused for believing Saturdays win at Reading had merely dragged Boro out of the bottom three in the Championship.
The table will tell you it has, in fact, pushed Boro into the top three just a point behind second-placed West Brom.
Goals from Sean St Ledger and Leroy Lita or a brace for Lita if he gets his way brought some respite at the end of what Southgate described as a difficult week.
But as skipper David Wheater acknowledged after the win at the Madejski Stadium, almost every Boro player would have taken the position Boro find themselves in with a quarter of the season gone.
The problem appears to be that a vocal section of supporters want more. What that involves is anyones guess.
Southgate sacked for not being ten points clear at the top of the Championship is about the only argument that they appear to have.
If they find themselves treading water in mid-table come January then their ire may be a little more understandable.
That is because the Championship is a strictly average affair this season. The quality on offer in the second tier of English football is poor and Reading a team who were in the top six of the Premier League a few seasons ago rarely troubled Brad Jones in the Middlesbrough goal.
The 1,500 Boro fans who made the long trek had an afternoon to enjoy and even coaxed a wave from their manager.
Southgate, in turn, managed to coax Litas best performance for Middlesbrough. He brought his A-game back to Reading and even managed to claim a brace after the game, although it still appears to be St Ledger who grabbed the first.
Just as he did last weekend at Coventry, the loan signing from Preston rose highest to an Adam Johnson corner to head past Adam Federici in the Reading goal with Lita claiming he made the crucial final contact with the ball.
Lita should have already scored, seeing an earlier effort blocked and a close-range header saved by Federici.
The home sides best hope appeared to be through the pace and trickery of Jobi McAnuff, but he appeared to want to beat himself as much as the Boro defence and the final ball he delivered rarely threatened.
When it did, David Wheater and St Ledger dealt with it and Jones was never under any real pressure. The pressure was being applied at the other end through Lita.
He appeared hell-bent on marking his return with at least an assist, if not a goal, and after the break he raced down the right to set up Jeremie Aliadiere. But Ivar Ingimarsson scrambled the ball away before the Boro striker could shoot.
Aliadiere then failed to get his shot away when one-onone with Federici before Lita gave Boro a two-goal advantage. Gary ONeil played the ball into the striker near the halfway line and he beat Jem Karacan before spinning away from Darren ODea and bearing down on the Reading goal.
As he approached the edge of the area he shot low into the left-hand corner of Federicis net. Lita raced straight over to the Boro fans to spark some wild celebrations. He then appeared to apologise to the Reading supporters, which brought generous applause from the Royals faithful.
At Coventry the previous week, Boro let a two-goal lead slip but they never looked like doing that on Saturday. We had plenty of chances to kill the game but I was particularly pleased with the way we played the second half out, said Southgate. We did the right things at the right times.
We were professional about how we went about the game and how we played after going two up.
But we wont get carried away with the result. Weve seen the nature of the league. But I am pleased for the players at the end of what has been a difficult week. They responded with a calmness and unity.
Aliadiere came close to a adding a third late on with a powerful shot well saved by Federici, but two was good enough.
Just what is good enough for Southgates detractors will become clearer in a fortnight when Watford visit the Riverside Stadium.
