Football – England – Championship
Saturday 11th April 2015 – Kickoff: 1500HRS
Middlesbrough manager Karanka will no doubt be looking for a reaction from his players this afternoon following Sunday’s disappointing 2-0 defeat away at Watford which handed Boro back-to-back away defeats.
Middlesbrough have now lost four of their last five away matches in the Championship as the race for automatic promotion up to the Premier League hots up, but Boro return to their Riverside Stadium this afternoon as they prepare for the visit of Rotherham United, on the back of a solid home record of 13-4-3 38/11.
In addition, Middlesbrough have won their last four on the trot on home turf with wins over Bolton Wanderers, Millwall, Ipswich Town and Wigan Athletic, scoring 9 goals and conceding just one in reply during this sequence.
Rotherham United halted a miserable run of four straight defeats in the Championship on Easter Monday when they overturned fellow strugglers Brighton 1-0 at their New York Stadium. However, with just one away win from their last nine, Rotherham look to have their backs to the wall when they make the trip to Teesside this afternoon.
The Millers have lost five of their last six on their travels recently with defeats suffered at Blackburn Rovers, Wolves, Watford, Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City, although they did manage a 2-0 win at Huddersfield Town in-between the losses.
Their away record stands at 3-7-10 14/30 and along with Blackpool are the lowest goalscorers away from home in the Championship, having failed to hit the back of the net on nine occasions on their travels so far.
Middlesbrough need to bounce back with a win to keep their promotion ambitions on track, and with a solid defence behind them at home, I’ll back Karanka’s men to cover the asian line here in perhaps a 2-0 win.
Pick: Middlesbrough AH-1 @ 1.72 Bet Victor
