Middlesbrough surged into the top half of the Premier League table after a 2-0 win over Birmingham at The Riverside.
Local boys Wheater and Downing secure Boro victory
Middlesbrough surged into the top half of the Premier League table after a 2-0 win over Birmingham at The Riverside.
After a poor start to the season Boro have now taken seven points from their last three games as they claimed their first home win of the new season.
Boro began brightly and took the lead after just 12 minutes when David Wheater headed home Andrew Taylor's cross.
The second came just before the break when Boro pressure finally told as Stewart Downing smashed the ball home from close range after a knock-down from George Boateng.
Boro should have extended their lead after the break as they continued to dominate Birmingham up to the finish - as Steve Bruce's side never got going on Teesside.
Luke Young's mistake in allowing the ball to roll off thinking it had not touched Woodgate gave Birmingham their first chance from a seventh-minute corner but Liam Ridgewell headed over Sebastian Larsson's resulting cross.
Initiative
Birmingham's untidy play was handing the initiative to the hosts and they were made to pay when they failed to clear Downing's 12th-minute corner.
Julio Arca's shot was half-blocked by Cameron Jerome and left-back Taylor picked up the loose ball and crossed for Wheater to head home from seven yards.
Jeremie Aliadiere should have done better four minutes later when a counter-attack saw the former Arsenal striker cut in from the left but shoot tamely at Maik Taylor, while at the other other end Jerome superbly controlled Ridgewell's 30-yard pass on his chest but could not follow it with a decent finish.
Aliadiere did better in the 23rd minute, forcing Taylor to tip over after Arca had found space in front of Birmingham's back four.
Arca was continuing to pull the strings in midfield but when he uncharacteristically gave the ball away to Jerome just before the half-hour his blushes were spared when the striker fired straight at Mark Schwarzer with Mikael Forssell better placed to his left.
No mistake
The second goal came on 36 minutes as another Taylor cross from the left was headed back into the path of Downing by Boateng and the unmarked England winger made no mistake from close range.
If Mido had been sharper the visitors could have been further behind when he chested down Downing's first-time left-wing cross but fired over left-footed from 12 yards.
The Egypt striker was off target again, this time with a 53rd-minute header, from Fabio Rochemback's chip into the area before Aliadiere should have had the match wrapped up seconds later when he was put through on the right of the area but shot straight at Taylor.
Olivier Kapo's 25-yard off-target drive aside Middlesbrough continued to dominate and right-back Young saw his shot from Aliadiere's pull-back cleared off the goalline by Stephen Kelly.
Aliadiere continued to provide options up front and when he cut in from the left his deflected shot was tipped around the post low to his right by Taylor.
In the last minute substitute Lee Dong-gook slid the ball into the side-netting with the goal gaping after Downing's perfect cross - which was probably a fair assessment of the afternoon for both sides.
| Middlesbrough |
Team Statistics |
Birmingham City |
| 2 |
Goals |
0 |
| 2 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 7 |
Shots on Target |
1 |
| 5 |
Shots off Target |
5 |
| 10 |
Blocked Shots |
3 |
| 11 |
Corners |
5 |
| 7 |
Fouls |
12 |
| 3 |
Offsides |
2 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
3 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 75.1 |
Passing Success |
71.5 |
| 20 |
Tackles |
23 |
| 95 |
Tackles Success |
60.9 |
| 44.8 |
Possession |
55.2 |
| 50.6 |
Territorial Advantage |
49.4 |
|
