Middlesbrough Win Thriller Against Spurs

Two second half goals, one from David Wheater and the other from substitute Mido, secured all three points for Gareth Southgate’s men in what was a very enthralling match.

The match started in a frenzy end-to-end stuff as both Middlesbrough and Tottenham Hotspur made it clear that they meant to win this match.

Spurs had a number of decent chances in the first 15 minutes of the match. Summer signing from Blackburn Rovers David Bentley hit the ball just wide from the edge of the penalty area early on in the match.

Midfielder Geovani Dos Santos then mishit a cross from the right hand side as his shot from inside the Boro penalty lacked any venom.

The 18-year old Mexican wizkid was again in the thick of action when he went on a rampaging run in the 15th minute, passing the ball to an unmarked Bentley who failed to hit the target from just outside the Boro D-box.

Middlesbrough though did have chances of their own but they were limited to long distance efforts as the Boro midfielders failed to achieve much penetration. Alfonso Alves hit a ball wide over the crossbar.

Boro’s best chance came just after the 30th minute mark when David Wheater headed the ball into the back of the Spurs net. But that goal was disallowed as David Wheater was adjudged by the officials to have committed a foul while heading the ball.

Spurs appeared to lack a certain degree of coherence in the first half and that was evident in the second half as Boro attacked through the flanks.

Middlesbrough took the lead in the second half when a Stewart Downing cross was bundled in by David Wheater, who had earlier had a headedruled out.

Spurs though didn’t lose heart as second half substitute Dimitar Berbatov, already one foot out of White Hart Lane and one foot into Old Trafford, tried some sorcery of his own as Spurs tried relentlessly to foil Boro from the wings.

Mido came on as a substitute for Boro and soon secured all three points for his side as he scored against his former club. Spurs did pull one back in the dying seconds of unjury time thanks to a Robert Huth own goal but that was too little, too little.

So Middlesbrough start their campaign with a bang while for Tottenham Hotspur, for all their big money spree in the summer, would have to return to the drawing board.