Key events
35 min: On balance of play, 2-0 would not flatter Middlesbrough. They have made most of the running and kept Southampton’s forward line very quiet for the most part.
35 min: “The goal coming from Ayling Brittain on the right wing,” emails Alex.
“And they say satire is dead.”
Excellent.
31 min: Brittain hammers another shot at the Saints goal after a corner. It’s deflected but Peretz makes a good save.
Southampton break, and Stewart goes down in the penalty area, wanting a penalty. The fans wail, but the refereee is unmoved. And now Boro break again …
There was a little shirt pull on Stewart by Brittain …
30 min: Manning swings in a vicious curling cross from the free-kick. Fry clears it with an excellent header at the near post. Scienza is back on, but not moving well.
28 min: Scienza has gone down with what looks a painful injury after an accidental clash with a Boro boot. The referee has a chat with Brynn, the Middlesbrough goalie, presumably about perceived timewasting.
25 min: Middlesbrough stitch together a lovely passing move, with Ayling among those showing composure and pinging the ball around in midfield. They engineer a chance for Conway, whose powerful shot is blocked, and the ball goes out for a corner. In the next phase of play Brittain belts a low shot at Peretz but the goalkeeper deals with it easily.
23 min: Manning turns a pass inside, in an advanced area for Southampton on their left, but Morris intercepts. The first 15 minutes was really open, and it’s tightened up a bit now. The co-commentator says “Middlesbrough are taking their time already …”
21 min: Now Scienza tries a cross from the Southampton left. But it’s claimed by Brynn in goal. (I saw Scienza tearing Charlton a new one at The Valley back in November, when Saints won 5-1. Good little player.)
20 min: The game settles down a touch and Southampton have a chance to try and build from the back. Matsuki tries a cross from the right wing but Boro’s defensive shape looks really good, and they deal with it easily.
18 min: Morris loses it on the edge of Middlesbrough’s penalty area, attempting to turn and play the ball out from a defensive area. He gets away with it – but that could have been a real howler.
15 min: McGree suddenly threatens with a good pacey run down the middle. He’s offside. But the visitors continue to create more than their hosts.
15 min: “Reasons To Love Marcelo Bielsa #4970,” emails Dave. “Doing something a bit naughty, shrugging his shoulders and saying “yeh, fair cop guv” (Or the Spanish equivalent).
“That word salad of a “statement” from Phil Parsons is an embarrassment frankly, just own up, own it and move on.
“P.S. I think the Saints fans who have turned up adorned in foliage of various descriptions are childish, immature and very funny.”
13 min: McGree, the goalscorer, is booked for a naughty late tackle.
12 min: Manning storms down the Saints left and belts an excellent, powerful cross across the six-yard box. Ross Stewart is there to meet it, and it looks like a simple volley, but such is the power on the cross that he misjudges the contact and gets too much on it, turning it back beyond the near post!
9 min: The Southampton fans are singing that one about the Saints going marching in. They’re trying to give them team a lift … but here come Boro again.
Morgan Whittaker has Manning on toast down the visitors’ right, and slams a shot into the side netting. Southampton’s defence is creaking every time Boro have the ball, it feels like.
7 min: Boro continue to make all the running. Southampton’s defence, already breached once, is seriously under the cosh. Aidan Morris is excelling for the visitors early doors.
Goal! 5 min: Southampton 0-1 Middlesbrough (McGree)
It’s in there! Ayling finds Brittain on the Boro right. The Southampton defence seems all over the shop – Brittain is afforded plenty of space to advance down the flank, then squares a low pass towards the general vicinity of the penalty spot. McGree applies a sidefooted finish that skims through a few bodies and in at the far post!
4 min: Should that have been a penalty for a hack by Matsuki on Strelec. Looked like it, on replay.
2 min: Boro play around at the back a bit. Then Saints do the same. Ayling is fouled around halfway after a surging run. Then Strelec goes down in the penalty area during the Boro attack that follows.
First half kick-off!
Allez!
Here we go then. Teams on the pitch, and everything. Pre-match pleasantries have begun.
Can Middlesbrough replicate the intensity they brought to the first leg?
“If Southampton had been caught spying on Bristol City,” emails Will Cook … “Would it be called Ashton Gategate?”
That’s a great question Will, I like it very much.
But no, it wouldn’t be called Ashton Gategate, unless the training session that was spied on was in the stadium.
Have a lovely evening.
It was notable that neither coach – as far as we saw – was asked about Spygate in their pre-match interviews on Sky Sports. Perhaps that was agreed by the club’s media people and the telly people?
Given the fact that any side who gets promoted will strengthen the squad considerably, are some of these players essentially playing to lose their jobs?
“Spygate is all fun and games until some team loses a spy, Luke,” emails Justin Kavanagh.
“If Southampton are found guilty can Fulham be reinstated to the FA Cup?” asks Richard Hirst. “Just asking for a friend.”
And Kim Hellberg, Southampton head coach, says: “Good opponent, tough opponent, good challenge.
“Our goal is to try to do the same thing [as the first leg when they created plenty of chances] … we need to try to repeat the energy we played with. We want to try to beat them. I am looking forward to seeing if we can do it.”
Tonda Eckert, the Southampton gaffer, has a chat:
“We need to take the positives from last game … we have great support … if we bring that together, we make the last step today.
“We have shown how tough it is for teams to come to St Mary’s … I’m very sure tonight will look very different to the first leg.”
Here’s a link to Southampton’s earlier statement about the small matter of Spygate. (Not that they call it that, of course.)
On my telly just now, some Boro fans were pictured wearing bits of trees on their heads, or draped across their shoulders.
It’s all good fun. OK, mostly good fun.
It’s THREE changes for Southampton. Kuryu Matsuki, Shea Charles and Ross Stewart come into the side.
After the first leg, Luke Ayling of Middlesbrough was asked about the spy scandal. He was at Leeds when similar occurred under Marcelo Bielsa. He said he was “pleading the fifth”. Then, he said the players know nothing about that sort of thing.
Ed Aarons was at the Den last night to see Hull City book their place in the Wembley final:
Don’t forget to email me, babez.
It’s a spicy atmosphere on the south coast. It appears the Boro bus was hit with a few objects (bottles?) on its way in.
Teams
Three changes for Southampton: Kuryu Matsuki, Shea Charles and Ross Stewart come in.
Southampton (4-2-3-1): Peretz; Bree, Harwood-Bellis, Wood, Manning; Charles, Jander; Matsuki, Azaz, Scienza; Stewart. Substitutes: Long, Stephens, Wellington, Downes, Bragg, Fellows, Edozie, Archer, Larin.
Middlesbrough: Brynn; Malanda, Fry, Ayling; Targett, McGree, Morris, Brittain; Conway, Whittaker; Strelec. Substitutes: Wildsmith, Gilbert, Munroe, Browne, Silvera, Castledine, Edmundson, Hansen, Sarmiento
I’m scouring the newswires like a man possessed for the lineups, but cannot see them as yet. I’ll be off to the socials, then, back soon.
“Hi Luke,” begins Peter Oh on email. So far, so uncontroversial.
“I’ve always liked the Southampton crest, especially the halo over the ball,” continues Peter. “However, it might be time to make a couple of updates for it to look a bit more modern. A spy hiding behind the tree, for starters.”
If you missed any of it, here are the stories we’ve published on Spygate™ since last week, including the first-leg match report from Louise Taylor:
Preamble
What a week it’s been in the world of association football. Fisticuffs at Real Madrid and a seismic VAR decision involving Premier League-chasing Arsenal and relegation-threatened West Ham feature in the highlights (or lowlights). But juiciest of all? The spying allegations levelled at Southampton by Middlesbrough before their Championship playoff first leg last week.
Southampton were charged with misconduct last Friday, after an individual was allegedly discovered creeping around in the bushes at Boro’s training ground, and this morning Southampton confirmed that an internal investigation has been launched. The English Football League intend to convene a hearing “at the earliest opportunity”, but clearly it is a situation that could get extremely messy, depending on the result tonight.
Middlesbrough are confident they have compelling evidence of a Southampton employee filming and making audio recordings of that all-important training session last Thursday before the goalless first leg on Friday. A “rogue analyst” theory has been bandied about by Southampton fans, essentially and probably foolishly hoping to claim that there is nothing to see here.
We’ll discover what the independent disciplinary committee, chaired by a barrister, makes of all that in due course but first there is a football match to play. Are Southampton heavy favourites to progress having drawn their away leg 0-0? Not on the basis of Millwall 0-2 Hull City last night. Playoff semi-finals are never less than highly-charged, but Spygate is going to crank the highly-charged-ness right up to 11 tonight.
Kick-off: 8pm BST
