Swansea 0 Boro 3

Aug 16 2009 Sunday Sun

BUOYANT Boro ended their away-day nightmare with a polished performance and a commanding 3-0 victory at Swansea.

The well-deserved triumph – their first against Welsh opposition since a 1-0 Division Three win over Newport in 1986 – ended a shocking sequence of 12 straight defeats on the road.

And the assured nature of the victory will boost relegated Boro’s hopes of a swift return to the Premier League.

They were solid at the back and collected a second clean sheet; they worked hard to smother Swansea’s five-man midfield; going forward they were quick and creative; and most importantly they rediscovered their goal touch.

Boro showed first in the fifth minute as Leroy Lita won a free-kick 35 yards out, which Adam Johnson curled just wide. Then Mark Yeates cut in from the left, but his shot was deflected over for a corner.

Two minutes later, from another flag kick, David Wheater powered a header against the bar and from the rebound Robert Huth’s stabbed effort was scrambled away.

Swansea had been restricted to the occasional long ball forward in the opening spell, but they showed they could be a threat on the deck in the 13th minute as Nathan Dyer tricked his way down the right and cut inside to tee up Stephen Dobbie, but the striker put his low 18-yard shot well wide.

Two minutes later Dyer cut into the box, but Boro skipper Huth tackled as the wideman shaped to shoot.

In the 17th minute Dobbie cracked a 20-yard drive, but keeper Danny Coyne got down to save comfortably.

Soon after, a threaded pass from Leon Britton – playing his 300th game for the Welsh club – found Shaun MacDonald inside the box. But as he turned to shoot, alert winger Yeates arrived to make a timely block.

There followed a scrappy, free kick-littered spell, but with busy beaver Gary O’Neil rampaging through the middle Boro gradually took control.

They could have taken the lead in the 27th minute as Wheater pushed a half-cleared ball straight back to O’Neil and he chipped first time to the far post where Lita headed just over.

A minute later Boro went closer still as Marvin Emnes weaved into the box and then Yeates scooped the ball up and skipped clear before stabbing just wide of the left post.