Appalling surface, appalling match

FA CUP/Sheffield Utd 0 Middlesbrough 0: When a game's most imaginative moment comes dressed up as a set-piece, invention is invariably in short supply and it certainly seemed absent without leave here.

If an appalling playing surface was hardly conducive to slick, one-touch passing, this was a day when the ball spent far too much time in the air and possession was conceded horribly cheaply.

"An afternoon few will remember," reflected Gareth Southgate, Middlesbrough's manager, who appeared relieved to have secured a replay a week tomorrow.

Indeed just about the only thing likely to linger in the memory was a witty Sheffield United dead-ball routine just before half-time.

When Julio Arca hauled Stephen Quinn down just outside the penalty area both Michael Tonge and James Beattie hovered over the ball before colliding as they moved to take the free-kick. With Boro unsure whether it was a case of carefully choreographed pretend or a humiliating mess, Quinn swiftly tapped the ball to Beattie whose fierce low shot struck a post after taking a slight deflection.

"We worked that one out yesterday," said Kevin Blackwell, United's new manager who has been appointed until the end of the season in the wake of Bryan Robson's departure last Thursday.

It took Southgate's side around an hour to fathom that they could not pass their way through midfield and might as well resort to United's tactic of lofting long balls forward.

"The pitch made it very difficult, you had to take a touch to get the ball under control," complained Southgate, who had four players booked and could have seen Wheater and Luke Young sent off for fouls on Billy Sharp. "But we adapted in the second half."

Guardian Service

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times