Middlesbrough 5-0 Reading: Boro boost promotion prospects with big home win
- Published
- comments
Chuba Akpom despatches his 21st goal of the season for Middlesbrough - and later added another
Middlesbrough got their Championship promotion push firmly back on track as they steamrollered Reading at Riverside Stadium.
Chuba Akpom and Aaron Ramsey scored two goals each before Marcus Forss added a fifth.
Defeat at West Brom last week broke their five-game winning streak but a dominant display kept them third in the table, just four points behind Sheffield United in second after the Blades lost at Blackburn in an earlier kick-off.
Reading endured a miserable afternoon and failed to build on winning two of their previous three matches.
Paul Ince's team failed to register a shot on target and they are now 11 points outside the play-off spots but they might have had a penalty when only 1-0 down after a strong challenge from Tommy Smith on Shane Long.
They were swept aside by Boro, who had the points wrapped up shortly after half-time.
Akpom opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Ramsey's through ball was handled inside the area by Andy Yiadom.
The striker then headed against the post before Ramsey scored Boro's second in first-half stoppage time, stealing possession from Amadou Mbengue and racing away to score his first for the club.
Boro added their third just after the break as Ryan Giles fizzed a half-volley across goal for Akpom to turn into the roof of the net at the back post.
Giles laid on the fourth for Ramsey, taking a long ball down and finding the run of the midfielder, who bent his effort into the bottom corner.
A second penalty provided the fifth as Forss was taken down by Tom McIntyre following a strong run into the area and he sent a powerful effort from the spot into the centre of the net.
Perhaps surprisingly, neither Akpom nor Ramsey took the penalty that could have completed a hat-trick for them - but the former now has 21 league goals this season - the first player to better 20 in a campaign for Boro since Bernie Slaven in the 1989-90 season.
Middlesbrough head coach Michael Carrick told BBC Radio Tees:
"It's a great day for the whole team and I was delighted with the attitude all week.
"I thought the threats we had all day were a really good mix and it was one of those days when pretty much everyone had a good day.
"There was a period in the first half when it was tight and we had to be compact as a team but we were terrific in the second half."
Reading manager Paul Ince told BBC Radio Berkshire:
"First half we managed to find out feet after 15 minutes and quietened the crowd down but the the penalty is ridiculous because our player just has his hand down by his side and not in a silhouette position.
"We didn't drop our heads and then should have had a penalty ourselves and it should have been a red card too.
"The referee made two diabolical decisions and that's really cost us a chance of winning this game but second half, we can't capitulate."