Goals:

0-1: Reach (20, brilliant take from Bannan’s pass followed by tidy low finish beyond Randolph)

Referee: Peter Bankes (Walsall) - there were a few boos for him at the whistle but this wasn’t his fault. 6

Bookings: Clayton (25, foul); Ayala (41, foul); McNair (81, foul); Palmer (83, foul); Fox (86, foul)

Attendance: 30,341

Entertainment: *

Boro SheffWed

Shots on 3 1

Shots off 9 2

Corners 5 1

Offsides 2 3

Fouls 13 12

MIDDLESBROUGH (5-4-1):

5 Randolph: Unable to prevent the winning Reach goal beat him;

6 McNair: At least showed a willingness to get down the line and deliver a few crosses

6 Ayala: Defended reasonably strongly even if was cautioned

5 Flint: Had he hit the target with an early header then things might have been different

5 Fry: Given the nod but angered Pulis for his part in allowing Reach through with Flint

6 Friend: The skipper pushed on when he could but that wasn’t enough to give Boro the lift required;

5 Clayton: The deepest of the midfielders moved the ball around but didn’t dictate the play enough

5 Howson: Needed to get up to support the forwards more, like Reach did for the Owls to score

5 Besic: An identical display to Howson in that neither did enough to get up to make things happen

6 DOWNING: Had a bright start and at least tested the goalkeeper, even if it was the only shot on target of the opening half

5 Assombalonga: Isolated more often than not

Subs:

Hugill (for Fry 46): Put himself about a bit without really making an impact. 5

Tavernier (for Clayton 68): Had an effort on goal after his introduction. 5

Wing (for Howson 78)

(not used): Konstantopoulos (gk), Braithwaite, Saville, Walker.

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY (4-1-4-1): Westwood 7; Palmer 6, Lees 6, Hector 7, Fox 6; Hutchinson 7 (Pelupessy 73); Matias 6, Reach 7, BANNAN 8, Joao 5 (Onomah 14, 5 (Boyd 66, 5)); Fletcher 6. Subs (not used): Dawson (gk), Thorniley, Nuhiu, Baker.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Barry Bannan – look dangerous whenever he got on the ball