Riley McGree celebrates for Middlesbrough
Riley McGree scored three goals in 30 appearances during a loan spell with Birmingham City prior to joining Middlesbrough

Riley McGree’s stunning goal sank Birmingham and made it three straight wins for Middlesbrough to revive their hopes of reaching the Championship play-offs.

The Australia international crashed a 25-yard shot into the top corner to deepen the relegation troubles of the club for which he played on loan before joining Boro in 2022.

That means the Birmingham have picked up just one point in the five games since manager Tony Mowbray had to step aside in order to have medical treatment, to leave them just one point ahead of 22nd-placed Huddersfield.

The home side were second best all night and failed to seriously trouble Seny Dieng in the visitors’ goal.

This was a game in hand that both teams were banking on to advance their hopes at either end of the table, but it was resurgent Boro who made use of it with a dominant performance to go ninth.

Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick reflected their recent form by naming an unchanged side for the third game on the run, the first time he has done so this season, following victories over Norwich and QPR.

The home side went into the game with just two wins from their previous eight home Championship games and their nervousness showed as Marcus Forss almost pounced on an under-hit Marc Roberts backpass in the opening two minutes, with goalkeeper John Ruddy racing out to clear.

Boro continued to make the running and in the 17th minute McGree, who spent over a year on loan at Birmingham from Major League Soccer side Charlotte, reminded the home fans of his quality.

Luke Ayling can take some of the credit, his excellent tackle preventing Alex Pritchard from launching a counter-attack while the Leeds loanee slipped the ball to McGree, who found the top corner with Ruddy well beaten.

Birmingham were further handicapped by the loss of Roberts through injury, and their only real opportunity of the first half was a slick attack that ended woefully as Pritchard got his shot all wrong.

Emmanuel Latte Lath and Matt Clarke, with a far-post header from Jonny Howson’s corner, went close to adding goals for Boro, and Birmingham caretaker manager Mark Venus responded by sending on subs George Hall and Juninho Bacina at half time.

The response failed to materialise, with the main drama of an uneventful second 45 minutes coming from the officials, as referee Andy Davies limped off to be replaced by fourth official Jeremy Simpson.

Venus’ last throw of the dice was to send on skipper Lukas Jutkiewicz, whose equaliser at Hull earned the Blues their only positive result since Mowbray was forced to relinquish control.

He came closest to forcing something, his challenge causing goalkeeper Dieng to miss a cross, but Rav van den Berg was on hand to sweep the ball clear.

That meant Birmingham have lost seven of their past 10, while Boro have beaten the hapless Blues for the fifth successive meeting, for the first time in their history.

Line-ups

Birmingham

Formation 4-2-3-1

  • 21Ruddy
  • 2Laird
  • 44Aiwu
  • 4RobertsSubstituted forDramehat 19′minutes
  • 3Buchanan
  • 16DozzellSubstituted forBacunaat 45′minutes
  • 13Paik Seung-ho
  • 11MiyoshiSubstituted forHallat 45′minutes
  • 29PritchardSubstituted forRobertsat 78′minutes
  • 19JamesSubstituted forJutkiewiczat 70′minutes
  • 28Stansfield

Substitutes

  • 1Etheridge
  • 7Bacuna
  • 8Roberts
  • 10Jutkiewicz
  • 12Drameh
  • 20Gardner
  • 23Longelo
  • 34Sunjic
  • 35Hall

Middlesbrough

Formation 3-4-1-2

  • 1Dieng
  • 17McNair
  • 3van den Berg
  • 5Clarke
  • 12Ayling
  • 16HowsonBooked at 23mins
  • 28O’Brien
  • 27Engel
  • 8McGreeSubstituted forAzazat 73′minutes
  • 21ForssSubstituted forGreenwoodat 66′minutes
  • 9Latte LathBooked at 90mins

Substitutes

  • 4Barlaser
  • 11Jones
  • 14Gilbert
  • 15Dijksteel
  • 18Silvera
  • 20Azaz
  • 23Glover
  • 29Greenwood
  • 33Thomas

Referee:
Andy Davies

Attendance:
17,829

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