Just enough!
28 January 2008
Mansfield Town 0 Middlesbrough 2
It is amazing the number of times that a team lying way down in the basement of the lowest league somehow finds so much more when faced by a "giant" from The Premier League. Thus was the case here with Mansfield putting up a great show against 'Boro. Okay, in the end the team from the Premiership is in the draw for the next round and the plucky underdogs are not, but could it have been different if Boulding's fine effort had been an inch or two lower and Huth had been given a different colour of card for a shocking first half challenge?
We will never know but, from 'Boro's point of view it is job done. Dong-Gook Lee slotted home the first when the home side failed to clear a corner and you would assume that this would be a real confidence booster to a striker who has not been hitting the target regularly. Maybe not, because, when Aliadiere made a great run and crossed on to Lee's head a few yards out, he somehow manged to put the ball "miles" wide. That would more than likely have been game over, but it took until the 87th minute to get the clincher when good build up play resulted in the unfortunate Mansfield defender Baxton helping a ball from Boateng across the line.
So 'Boro await the draw for the next round and if they can steer clear of the big four who knows how far they can go.
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