Southgate: It was a mad day
12 May 2008 - 11:53:45
Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate thinks his side saved all their good fortune until the last game of the season after they thrashed hapless Manchester City 8-1 at the Riverside Stadium.
Boro had failed to score more than two goals in a Premier League game in their previous 37 matches, but could not stop finding the net against the ten-man visitors.
However, Southgate was keeping his feet on the ground after the match, saying: "Where we've finished is where we've deserved to be.
"The irony is we've created so many chances throughout the season and not scored. Against City we've scored with virtually every shot. It was a mad day, really.
"From our point of view I don't think we've had a lot of good fortune this year and we seemed to get all our good fortune and all of our goals in one day.
"Certainly the turning point was the sending off and then the important goal for us was the third - once we got the third that really broke their spirit and then all of the circumstances that are surrounding them weighed heavily on them.
"But we scored some brilliant goals and played some really good football.
"The result doesn't mask anything for me. I've got all the players in on Monday. I've not had an opportunity to talk to them after the game. We've had various conversations through the year and we'll sit down and have a good chat."