Championship
Tuesday 17th April 2012 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Middlesbrough will be looking to post back-to-back wins when bottom of the league Doncaster Rovers come to the Riverside Stadium on Tuesday night to maintain their play-off push.
Boro’s win at Derby County at the weekend was their first taste of success in their last eight matches and stopped the rot along with keeping pace of the top six. The equation is now simple for them; they must win at least two of their last three matches to have a chance of making the play-offs. Looking at their remaining fixtures, they take on Doncaster tonight, then Southampton at home, and last match of the season is away at Watford and I daresay they’d be wanting at the most a point for that trip.
That leaves this match against Doncaster as their must-win match and one they’d fancy getting all three points. Boro’s home record stands at 7-9-5 20/20, and have drawn way too many home matches for their liking which has cost them a play-off position as it currently stands.
Scoring goals has basically been the problem and one of the factors contributing to their high draw ratio. This is put into perspective when you consider that only Nottingham Forest (19 goals) have scored fewer at home in the Championship.
Marvin Emnes (13 goals, 2 assists) is their leading scorer with midfielder Barry Robson (7 goals, 8 assists) providing valuable support along with Scott McDonald (9 goals, 4 assists). One thing in Middlesbrough’s favour though is their tight defence – sixth best defensive record with eight shut-outs.
Visitors Doncaster Rovers would be wishing they had at least a half-decent defensive record as they currently sit bottom of the Championship having conceded a total of 77 goals so far this season. Rovers are having a torrid time of it at the moment and have gained just one point from their last eight matches which means that they now occupy 24th place.
Recent losses to relegation rivals Millwall and Portsmouth have basically been the straws that broke the camel’s back and they are now relegated and facing the prospect of League One football next season.
Their away form has been pretty bad all season with stats of 3-3-15 19/45 and they’ve conceded the most number of goals on the road, keeping just one clean sheet all season. The transfer of leading scorer Billy Sharp (10 goals) to Southampton unsurprisingly proved to be the turning point and the installation of former Wrexham manager, Dean Saunders, wasn’t enough to keep them up.
El-Hadji Diouf (6 goals, 5 assists) is their danger man along with creative midfielder Coppinger (2 goals, 6 assists), but they are very susceptible at the back and will always give the opposition a sniff of a goal.
Middlesbrough have to win this one and if they have that hunger and desire to reach the play-offs, there should be goals on show here tonight given Doncaster’s poor away defensive record as well. I’ll go for a Boro win 2-1.
Main Pick: Over 2.5 @ 1.83 Paddy Power
