Charlton Athletic vs Middlesbrough. Sky Bet Championship.
The ValleyAttendance18,080.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash at The Valley
Saturday 7 March 2020 18:19, UK
Middlesbrough gained a vital three points as they won the battle at the bottom of the Sky Bet Championship with a 1-0 win over Charlton at the Valley.
Victory was their first since New Year's Day, which was earned with a first-half effort from Paddy McNair.
Defeat was the third in succession for the south London side, who find themselves two points off safety while Boro pull two clear of the relegation zone.
Middlesbrough manager Jonathan Woodgate gave a debut to Dejan Stojanovic in goal, while Charlton made three changes - Ben Purrington, Jonny Williams and Darren Pratley, who returned to the side after a back injury.
The visitors started off well, forcing a number of corners. However, Charlton found their feet and Lyle Taylor put an Andre Green cross over on sixteen minutes.
Boro took the lead on seventeen minutes when McNair coolly slotted home past goalkeeper Dillon Phillips, after connecting with Rudy Gestede's square pass.
Stojanovic saw his first real action with five minutes of the half remaining, when Green ran onto a Josh Cullen pass, but shot straight at the 'keeper.
After a disappointing first-half display, Charlton made a half time substitution with Macauley Bonne replacing George Lapslie.
However, Middlesbrough were still looking for the comfort of a second goal and Jonny Howson put his shot into the side netting seven minutes after the restart.
Marcus Tavernier should have done better with a solo run two minutes later, as his shot was tame.
Even so, with the home crowd picking up the volume, Charlton had their moments of danger. Pratley slipped at the wrong moment after being fed in by Bonne.
The hosts made a second change with Alfie Doughty replacing Jonny Williams. They almost equalised on 69 minutes, but Bonne connected weakly with a cross by Lyle Taylor.
Middlesbrough still looked to double the lead, although Hayden Coulson badly miscued his effort on 74 minutes.
With five minutes of additional time added, Charlton created one more chance when Deji Oshilaja crossed the ball in from the right. However, Bonne was unable to keep his connecting header down and aimed agonisingly over the bar.
Charlton's Lee Bowyer: "We deserved something from the game but you can't give teams one-nil leads and we've done that in the last two weeks. You keep doing that you're not going to win games, simple as that - we're not good enough to give them one-nil leads and to try and come back and win.
"We have to learn from that, you can't afford to gift them goals. Like last week it's a schoolboy thing, just basic, so poor. It's so tight down the bottom. If we won today we'd have probably climbed three places I think. There's a long way to go. I said to the players, the most important thing is that we stick together - no passing the blame on to other people, it's the last thing we need to do."
Middlesbrough's Jonathan Woodgate: "All results are big at this time. All we do is to look to the next game. Let's not put points figures on it, and what it takes to stay up - just one game at a time. We're still in the dog fight, don't get excited because we've won one game. That won't be happening in the dressing room.
"I'm really pleased. Today I thought we were exceptional at times in the game today, we created a lot of opportunities and it could have been more than one goal. I asked for more intensity in the second half, I didn't want us to drop off and we didn't. It's going to be nervy towards the end, it's the nature of every league in the world - if you're winning one-nil with a few minutes to go, tell me a manager who doesn't get nervous."
