Middlesbrough vs Leicester City. Sky Bet Championship.
Riverside StadiumAttendance30,042.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Middlesbrough and Leicester City at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday | Sam Greenwood scores late winner as leaders are beaten.
Saturday 11 November 2023 18:18, UK
Championship leaders Leicester suffered their second successive 1-0 defeat after Sam Greenwood settled a tight game with a late stunner to send Middlesbrough into the international break on a high.
Enzo Maresca's side lost to Leeds last week and Greenwood - on loan at Boro from Elland Road - hit a brilliant free-kick seven minutes from time to lift Michael Carrick's Boro up to 10th in the table, just two points outside the top six.
Leicester are now only top on goal difference following Ipswich's win over Swansea.
The Foxes had looked the more likely winners for long spells at the Riverside but could not force a way through Middlesbrough's organised backline.
There was not much to separate the sides in a hard-fought first half, with both keepers making brilliant saves.
Leicester dominated possession in the opening stages but it was Boro who created the better of the early chances, with Josh Coburn - who bagged a brace in last week's 3-3 draw at Plymouth - twice going close.
Although the home side did a good job of restricting Leicester, the Foxes did have two good first-half opportunities to break the deadlock.
Maresca's side were almost gifted an opener when Isaiah Jones' attempted backpass was intercepted by Kelechi Iheanacho, who stung the hands of home goalkeeper Seny Dieng.
And just after the half-hour mark, Dieng again denied the leaders, making a superb one-handed save to keep out Jannik Vestergaard's header after a corner from the left.
In the dying seconds of the opening period, it was the turn of Leicester keeper Mads Hermansen. First he got down to his left to tip a low Matt Crooks shot around a post. And from the resulting corner, he clawed out a Dael Fry header that looked destined for the top corner.
Leicester tried to turn the screw in the second half and substitute Abdul Fatawu bounced over a volley from close in after good work down the left from Stephy Mavididi.
Mavididi then had a chance of his own but dragged his left-footed shot wide of the far post, before Iheanacho was gifted an opportunity after a Dieng mistake, only for the keeper to make amends with a fine stop.
Iheanacho beat Dieng with his next chance with just over 10 minutes to play, only to see his delicate chip bounce back off the near post. And moments later, against the run of play, Boro scored what proved to be the winner.
There was initially some anger inside the Riverside when referee Oliver Langford pulled back play for a foul on Greenwood instead of playing the advantage with the home side in the attack and with men over.
But Greenwood lifted himself off the deck to curl home a beautiful free-kick into Hermansen's top corner.
Middlesbrough's Michael Carrick:
"It was a big win. They are a really good team and we knew that. Individually, collectively, how they're coached, they're a very good team and it's not an accident that they are where they are in the league. We showed a different side to ourselves today with a lot of the out-of-possession work. It was really good pressing and really good defensively. They test you, you have to close certain spaces for the whole game, you have to concentrate for the whole game and that was a major factor.
"The boys got the game plan off to a tee and actually, the few chances we did give away were from us giving the ball away, which we don't normally do. That's one of those things though. It was an immense effort and I'm so proud of the boys."
Leicester's Enzo Maresca:
"I think I have been quite clear, we created many chances and many situations where we should score but when you miss, miss, miss and they score a fantastic goal, that's football. It's a moment where you create but don't take your chance and the opposite, they score a fantastic goal. It is what it is.
"To be honest I thought we were in control of the game, created five or six clear chances and many situations where we missed the last pass. The players are annoyed because we lost and it's normal to be like that."
