Premier League - Alves, O'Neil see Boro past City

Eurosport - Wed, 29 Oct 22:20:00 2008

Afonso Alves and Gary O'Neil scored the goals as Middlesbrough beat Manchester City 2-0 in an entertaining clash at The Riverside.

FOOTBALL Afonso Alves Middlesbrough 2008 - 0

City arrived in the north east looking to avenge their humiliating 8-1 defeat on the final day of last season, but the Premier League's top goalscorers could not find a way past an inspired Ross Turnbull.

And Brazilian Alves made sure Boro took full advantage with his goal from the penalty spot before O'Neil struck on the break in the dying seconds as Gareth Southgate's side moved into the top half of the table.

The game started brightly and seemed to promise goals from the off, with City keen to get the ball out to in-form Robinho out on the left as often as possible to exploit his pace and skill against young defender David Wheater.

Robinho had the first meaningful effort on goal after being fed by Stephen Ireland, the Brazilian cutting inside before driving a low effort through a crowd which Boro keeper Turnbull did well to collect.

The home side responded well with Alves testing Joe Hart at the near post after meeting a cross before just failing to find Didier Digard with a pass as the midfielder burst through a hole in the City defence.

Micah Richards, playing in an unfamiliar left-back spot, then tested Turnbull with a fierce drive from distance before Boro striker Tuncay Sanli chested down a cross and hit an effort straight at Hart at the other end.

Boro finished the first half strongly, although City twice almost opened the scoring immediately after the restart but Turnbull saved well from Ireland, through on goal, and Shaun Wright-Phillips, played in by a back-heel from young Danny Sturridge.

However, the home side broke the deadlock seven minutes into the second period when they were correctly awarded a spot-kick for Sturridge's clumsy barge on Wheater, pushing forward from right-back. Alves kept his nerve to fire the spot-kick into the top corner.

The goal gave Boro the confidence to press forward for a second and after firstly almost catching Hart sleeping with an ambitious drive from the angle, Tuncay opted to cross low when in a good position to shoot and Jeremie Aliadiere was inches away from turning the ball over the line.

City began to push for an equaliser in the final 20 minutes and Sturridge should have done much better than blast his shot out for a throw after Turnbull had palmed Vincent Kompany's shot into his path six yards out.

But despite Mark Hughes's men going more direct and looking for the power and height of young substitute Ched Evans, Boro comfortably held on and made sure of the points with a second in the final moments when Tuncay's shot was saved and O'Neil followed up to thrash the rebound into the roof of the net.

Alex Sharratt / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 16 of 16

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  1. Daft Mcpluker had a farm ee i ee i o, and on that farm­ he sh@gg€d his goat ee i ee i o

    From Soph, on Fri 31 Oct 2:47PM

  2. @#$% off McPlucker. You lost, even with your billions­ so don't say we're @#$% just because we­ haven't got as much money as you, because you lot­ are @#$% useless with the money. Why don't you­ choose a decent local team to support like Man United.

    From TOM, on Thu 30 Oct 6:41PM

  3. mcpluker - sorry words from a turd

    From Mike S, on Thu 30 Oct 6:15PM

  4. WAIT TILL THE SUMER SIGHNINGS @ EASTLANDS THEN THE­ WHEEL WILL CHANGE @#$% BORO FANS !!! OH ARE YOUR TINY­ SKINT CLUB R IN THE EUEFA CUP NO WHY BECAUSE YOU ARE F­ UCKING SHYTE OK YOU WON YOUR WORD CUP AGAINST CITY ­ FFK SAKE HERES A HANKEY 4 YA TEARS OF SUCSESS T0SSERS,,­ REST ASHURED U WONT BE IN THE TOP 6 @ THE END OF SEASON­ U F UCKING FARMERS............C.T.I.D.

    From mcpluker, on Thu 30 Oct 11:54AM

  5. You city fans sound surprised to lose ?? A rich­ chairman does not always equal success...Cameron w, you­ can kiss me where I poo, you muppet...cant wait for us­ to turn you over again at your ground.;o)

    From Boro CJ, on Thu 30 Oct 8:57AM

  6. all you man city fans moaning about getting beat of us­ or even borough from the first comment???mug maybe­ underestimating is your biggest problem we should have­ many more points than we do !!!!!we should have taken­ more points from blackburn liverpool and sunderland­ only chelsea and wigan have we not been the better side­ and yes 25000 but were boro little boro compared to­ manchester but 40000 fans wouldnt have made us win by­ any more!!! fact is u had nothing up front nothing in­ midfield we just watched you pass the ball across the­ back then hit you when it mattered!!!!SO YES U SHOULD­ BEAT BORO BECAUSE CITY HAVE BEEN TO HOW MANY FA CUP AND­ COCA COLA CUP OR EUFA CUP FINALS LATELY THE FACT IS A­ LITTLE CLUB LIKE BORO HAS DONE MORE THAN WHAT CITY HAVE­ LATELY AND YOU DONT LIKE IT!!!!!

    From darren m, on Thu 30 Oct 8:55AM

  7. same old city,@#$%.why do we always struggle to win two­ games on the bounce?bad management.boro for @#$% sake.

    From lakey, on Thu 30 Oct 8:20AM

  8. Here we go again, same old City. Win one Lose one.Come­ on BLUES we should be beating that @#$%.

    From riggers, on Thu 30 Oct 6:50AM

  9. Been critical of Boro for rolling over to easy when in­ front. Today was a different story. They fought for the­ lead and when it came continued to defend well but­ always left City with no doubt that they would and­ could counter attack. That won the game. Rarely were­ Boro going backwards at any time . Well done, everyone­ worked hard and nobody was sent on as a sub to shut up­ shop. Lesson learned Mr Southgate?

    From jlwebber, on Thu 30 Oct 12:40AM

  10. City very in and out this season and I would like to­ see them do well. Sparky is one of my heroes as I am­ Welsh. You cannot blame him because the prima donnas do­ not play well and sulk all night like SRP and Robinho­ did tonight. You can see that this team do not gel­ properly yet but it will improve. What do you want,­ Sven or KK back?

    From taff, on Thu 30 Oct 12:32AM

  11. to cameron w.
    who are the joke club, 8-1 last year and­ 2-0 this year, not laughing now are you. you will­ always be second best to United. Ha bloody Ha

    From BRENDA, on Wed 29 Oct 11:52PM

  12. 25,000 - P A T H E T I C.
    What a joke club, with a joke­ manager, joke players and the biggest joke of all . . .­ . the joke fans.

    From cameron w, on Wed 29 Oct 11:23PM

  13. prxxx

    From WilliamM, on Wed 29 Oct 10:46PM

  14. Burchell come on where are you you turd. Give us your­ thoughts on another defeat for the blues

    From Mike S, on Wed 29 Oct 10:43PM

  15. THERES ONLY ONE SAMBA SUPER STAR ALVES AND ALSO BORO­ DIDNT WANT TO TAKE THE PISS OUT OF YOU SHITY FANS TWICE­ IN A ROW SO WE SETLED JUST FOR TWO YOU PLONKERS

    From Steve H, on Wed 29 Oct 10:37PM

  16. WELL IT LOOKS LIKE OTHER BLUE MOONERS AGREE WITH ME­ THEN....
    CITY TILL I DIE,,THE WAY THEY ARE PLAYING IT­ WILL BE MORE LIKE,,CITY TILL I DONT DIE.
    LAUGHING STOCK­ OF THE PREMIERESHIP

    From big10, on Wed 29 Oct 10:28PM
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