Middlesboro v Swansea | Vital Football

Middlesboro v Swansea

Today’s ref is Tony Harrington from Hartlepool, which is only 8 miles from Middlesborough as the crow flies, so he wont have far to travel to referee the Boro v Swans match this lunchtime.
He has form against us. For example he was the referee who sent Bidwell off at Bristol City last season. Cooper: It's a poor decision isn't it. We don't agree with it. We've looked at it already on the broadcast visuals and on the wide angles. Looking at the position of it and how far out it is from goal and the actual tackle, don't get me wrong, it's a foul, it's as yellow as they come, but to send him off is a bit of a weak decision, a weak mentality," he added.
Also last season, Rotherham 2 - Swansea 1. The Millers had gone 8 games without a win, but were awarded two controversial penalties by Harrington in the last 10 mins, he also showed us four yellow cards.
Potter: “The penalties, I haven't seen them back, but the first one, their boy is offside to start with and then I wasn't so sure, there didn't seem too much in it (Nordfelt allegedly brought down Proctor). The second one, I see why he's given it, but the ball is hit so hard (point blank almost) at Leroy, but that can happen.”
Former PL referee Jeff Winter: “I’m amazed referees are still being asked to officiate matches close to where they are born.
The Football League leave themselves open to criticism in this way.
It’s not that I doubt the integrity of the match officials, it’s just creating a potential problem that is unnecessary.
It’s leaving the match officials open to criticism, over and above what comes their way through the usual demands of the job.”
 
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Line up:
Swansea City: Freddie Woodman; Connor Roberts, Ben Cabango, Ben Wilmot, Jake Bidwell, Jay Fulton, Matt Grimes (captain), Aldo Kalulu, Conor Gallagher, Andre Ayew, Rhian Brewster.

Substitutes: Erwin Mulder, Marc Guehi, Kyle Naughton, George Byers, Yan Dhanda, Nathan Dyer, Wayne Routledge, Jordon Garrick, Bersant Celina.

Joe Rodon out injured, quad strain, should be fit for Luton next week.
(A thigh strain or quadriceps strain is a tear in one of the quadriceps muscles at the front of the thigh. Quadriceps muscle strains usually occur during activities such as sprinting.)
 
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An excellent 0-3 win at Middlesboro, all the goals coming in the first half.
We’re up to 8th position in the table on 56 points, only a point away from 6th place Preston, who drew 1-1 at Luton. Blackburn are in 7th place on 56 points, ahead of us only on goal difference, after beating Bristol City 3-1.
Cardiff play Leeds at home tomorrow at noon.
 
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Boro Manager Jonathan Woodgate:
“We were very poor and got caught too easily. Swansea have some excellent players and we just couldn't live with them. It is not nice to see that kind of performance and it wasn't good enough. There were no signs on the training ground of that performance coming. It isn't good enough, it is concerning and now we've got a week to put it right."

Swans Manager Steve Cooper:
“To win 3-0 away from home is a fantastic result at anytime in the season, never mind after however many months without playing.
We deserved the clean sheet and could have scored a fourth as well.
It's a fantastic result and a great re-start for us. It is important to enjoy victories like this. It was a real team performance."
 
Match statistics Boro v Swans
Possession 55% - 45%
Shots: 17 - 13
On target: 1 - 3
Corners: 10 - 0
Fouls: 15 - 13
Cards: 2Y - 1Y

Ref: Tony Harrington 7/10 - despite his previous reputation reffing us he was surprisingly fair and had a good game. He could easily have sent of Kalulu for a reckless challenge, instead giving a yellow card, seeing there was no Malicious intent.

An emphatic win and besides the 3 goals, Kalulu, Brewster and Byers all hit the post.
So much for match statistics, with Boro having most possession, 17 shots, and 10 corners, you’d think they should have won the game, but not so, as we dominated the first half and defended well second half. Yes Boro had chances but they squandered them.
 
great win but Boro were awful, I'd be worried they're going down if I was a fan. And rightfully so, Woodgate is now sacked. It was so bad their players were social distancing from ours!

Coming up against more organised sides , we've gone back to our old ways and struggled.
 
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