Boro boss Pulis pleased to pick up points at the death

Posted Saturday, August 25, 2018 by PA

Tony Pulis felt there was no better time to score than when Daniel Ayala did as Middlesbrough left it late to beat West Brom.

Boro climbed to the top of the Sky Bet Championship by securing a 1-0 win courtesy of Ayala’s finish one minute into stoppage time, after a tight game between two of the division’s most fancied teams.

Both sides had their chances before that but it was Middlesbrough, naming Ayala in the starting line-up in the league for the first time after injury, who struck the crucial late blow to extend their unbeaten run to five matches.

Pulis now wants to add to his squad with further loans before Thursday’s deadline but Middlesbrough are already showing signs of promotion quality with those already at his disposal.

The former West Brom boss said: “In the first half we were disappointed we didn’t come in with a couple of goals at least, they are a good side and they will have spells.

“They have real quality and can create opportunities in seconds. They had the one chance and normally they would have scored that.

“It’s always lovely to score late on because there’s no time to recover. We had Martin Braithwaite’s chance, Jonny Howson’s header off the line, we had great opportunities to score goals.

“This is a system we are playing because we don’t have the wide players we have. If we can get the wide players in then we could change. But I would still like to play with two wide players. I wouldn’t be adverse to playing this system again, though.

“Ayala and Aden Flint will score goals. I am pleased with the group, they have been in every day. We had to work on certain things to stop West Brom from countering and we did well.”

West Brom – aware of hints of handball from Ayala as he scored the goal – have shown signs of recovery since their opening-day defeat and manager Darren Moore felt that they had done enough to claim the points themselves.

The best of the Baggies’ chances was when Dwight Gayle fired over after a fine counter-attack which saw him fail to make the most of a two-on-one with Adam Clayton alongside Matt Phillips.

Moore said: “It was a sickener to lose so late in the game, especially when you felt you had come away from home and dominated a game in the manner we have.

“It was disappointing to concede late in the game. The stats and the possession showed so, as the away team. To use the ball in the way we did, considering where we were, they changed the shape and system to nullify us and that tells you all you need to know.

“I wouldn’t say we had to work on the set-piece defending, we defended resolutely for 91 minutes.

“It was just a basic error to misread the flight on the ball late on. We tried to play our game tonight, fashioned a couple of openings. On another day we score when Dwight and Matt broke away.

“I have only seen the goal from a deeper angle, the analysts will show me (whether it was handball). It looked like handball but I can’t comment on it too much. The angle I have seen is too deep to comment.

“Myself and Tony are good friends, hard-working individuals within the game and friends outside the game. I have a lot of respect for him as a man and as a head coach in the managerial game.”