Boro cede top spot after deserved defeat

IF Middlesbrough are to win automatic promotion to the Premier League over the course of the next month, they are clearly intent on doing things the hard way.

For the second time in the space of three matches, the Teessiders were comprehensively outplayed by one of their promotion rivals. With a trip to Norwich City to come a week on Friday, there is time to complete an unwanted hat-trick that could yet prove terminal to their hopes of a top-two finish.

For Bournemouth just over a week ago, read Watford on Monday afternoon. The gulf between the two sides might not have been quite as vast, and the final scoreline was not quite as emphatic, but the extent to which Boro were outplayed in both games was considerable.

Impotent in attack and uncharacteristically disorganised in defence, Aitor Karanka’s side were unable to match the intensity or attacking fluidity of their opponents.

Troy Deeney, regularly a thorn in Boro’s side, opened the scoring midway through the first half, with his strike partner, Odion Ighalo, doubling Watford’s lead from distance midway through the second period.

Boro never looked like clawing their way back into it after falling behind, and there was a sting in the tail in the closing stages as Grant Leadbitter picked up a booking that will keep him out of the forthcoming home games against Rotherham and Wolves. Fail to improve on yesterday, and neither of those can be taken for granted.

The Teessiders remain a reasonably potent force at the Riverside, but their away form has deserted them at a crucial stage of the campaign, and the defensive resilience that has characterised much of their play throughout the season has vanished at the most inopportune of moments.

Were Karanka’s changes at least partly to blame for that? Having watched his side concede three goals at Bournemouth, the Boro head coach clearly concluded some extra defensive experience was required, hence the decision to hand debuts to recent loan arrivals Fernando Amorebieta and Dwight Tiendalli.

The former replaced Ben Gibson at centre-half, while the latter was preferred to Tomas Kalas at full-back, only to be withdrawn shortly after the hour mark after suffering a difficult afternoon at the hands of Ikechi Anya.

Not the first time this season, it felt as though Karanka was tinkering for the sake of it, although to be fair to the Spaniard, it was his side’s most consistently reliable defender who was at fault for both of Watford’s goals.

Jonathan Woodgate has been a key contributor since returning to the fray in the middle of last month, but the 35-year-old suffered a rare off day, and will especially not want to revisit the contribution that enabled Deeney to open the scoring eight minutes before the break.

Adlene Guedioura delivered a hanging cross from the right, and Woodgate found himself trapped under the flight of the ball as he misread how far it was travelling.

An unmarked Deeney was able to gain possession at the back post, and after his first touch took the ball into the corner of the six-yard box, his second saw him slot a calm finish past Dimi Konstantopoulos.

The goal, which was the striker’s fourth in four seasons against Boro at Vicarage Road, came at the end of a half that was dominated by the hosts.

Deeney headed over in the early stages, Ighalo saw a low shot saved by Konstantopoulos’ legs and Gabriele Angella headed wide when well placed at a corner as Boro struggled to cope with Watford’s slick interplay.

Lee Tomlin was on the end of the visitors’ only real opportunity before the break, but while he did well to twist into a position where he could volley George Friend’s cross towards goal, his strike was much too close to Watford goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, who was able to make a routine save.

Beyond that, Boro’s attacking threat was extremely limited, and while Patrick Bamford has proved himself as an expert finisher this season, there have been games away from home where his struggles to hold up the ball as a lone centre-forward have limited his side’s attacking threat.

To compound matters yesterday, neither Adam Reach nor Albert Adomah were able to make much of an impression in the wide areas. As a result, Boro were forced to resort to far too many hopeful long balls, few of which found their intended target.

Adomah prodded Friend’s cross wide at the start of the second half, but if the visiting fans crammed into a packed away end thought the half-chance was to signal a revival, they were mistaken.

Instead, Boro’s second-half attacking play was even more insipid than their first, with the introduction of Kike for Tomlin doing nothing to change the pattern of play.

Kike spurned a late opportunity to reduce the arrears, but if anything, Watford’s dominance was more pronounced in the second half, and while Konstantopoulos saved from Ighalo in the 52nd minute, he was powerless to prevent the newly-capped Nigeria international from scoring 13 minutes later.

It was a fantastic finish from the forward, who received the ball from Ben Watson before lashing a superb 20-yard strike beyond Konstantopoulos, who was unable to keep the ball out despite getting a hand to the shot.

Ighalo’s technique was impeccable, although Leadbitter was guilty of conceding possession cheaply at the start of the move and Woodgate was beaten much too easily as he failed to make a challenge on the edge of the area.

Konstantopoulos made a fine one-handed save from Guedioura to prevent Boro suffering a second successive 3-0 defeat on their travels, but there was still time for Leadbitter to pick up a needless yellow card as he tussled with substitute Miguel Layun after being on the wrong end of a foul.

Like the rest of his team-mates, the Boro midfielder is clearly hell bent on making things as difficult as possible in the games that remain.