Bolton Wanderers 4 Middlesbrough 1

Apr 5 2009 Sunday Sun

BORO were left on a Premier League life support system after suffering a series of self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the feet yesterday.

Their bold plan to attack their way to survival disintegrated as a fragile defence unravelled in a damaging 4-1 defeat at Bolton.

The Teessiders once again failed to deal with routine set-pieces and proved incapable of coping with Bolton’s pace on the break.

Boro boss Gareth Southgate had promised to go for broke and set out with an attacking formation with wing-backs Stewart Downing and Justin Hoyte, adding width to supply two front men in Afonso Alves and Jérémie Aliadière and with mercurial midfielder Tunçay in a free role behind the strikers.

And they started brightly as Downing won a corner in the second minute, which Robert Huth headed wide, then a minute later, after Downing was fouled, the German headed the resulting free-kick over. And soon after Gary O’Neil blazed a 20-yard shot over.

But they suffered a hammer blow as the Trotters went ahead through Kevin Davies on seven minutes with virtually their first attack of the game.

Ricardo Gardner broke down the left and shrugged off a half-hearted tackle from Aliadière then, with Hoyte standing off, the Bolton man was allowed to put in a scrappy cross which bounced across the face of goal towards the far post, where Pogatetz failed to deal with it and Davies ghosted in to stab home from close range.

For a spell it was all Bolton as on 12 minutes as a Boro attack broke down and the home team pumped the ball forward quickly for Johan Elmander to chase into the box and hold off Wheater before firing a low shot to the far post that fizzed just wide.

Then, on 15 minutes, after Boro failed to deal with a free-kick from former Sunderland man Gavin McCann, Matthew Taylor rifled in a half-volley that squeezed through the crowd but brought a full-length save from Jones and, as Bolton continued to press, the Aussie keeper did well to tip over a stinging 20 yard Taylor free-kick soon after.

Seven minutes later Jones again kept Boro in it as he stormed off his line to dive in at the feet of Gardner who had burst onto a ball into the box.

Boro steadied the ship and started to assert themselves again and threatened on 23 minutes as Alves neatly touched a ball to the edge of the box

into the path of David Wheater but his shot took a deflection and looped onto the roof of the net.

For all their neat short passing in the middle third, a string of Boro moves broke down with the final ball into the box.

And when they did engineer a clear-cut chance on the half-hour it was wasted as a crisp exchange of passes between Alves and Tunçay sent the Turk clear but with over-lapping Hoyte in space on the right of the box and screaming for the ball the Turk opted to squander the moment with a weak low shot that rolled straight at relieved Jaaskelainen.

It seemed it was not to be Boro’s day when, on 35 minutes, Hoyte won a free-kick on the edge of the box and Alves drilled his waist-heigh shot through the wall and, with the keeper rooted tothe spot, it came back off the post.

Then, a minute later, Tunçay burst behind the defence and stabbed a ball home but the off-side flag went up.

Boro’s persistence was rewarded on 38 minutes, however, when they grabbed a lifeline with a well engineered equaliser.

Andrew Taylor – on as a substitute for Pogatetz – got down the left and crossed in for Alves to nod down for Tunçay to touched into the path of Gary O’Neil and the midfielder neatly scooped the ball over the advancing keeper.

The lead was short-lived though as Boro’s Achilles heel was once again exposed and they leaked from a poorly defended set-piece on 43 minutes.