Middlesbrough 0, Plymouth Argyle 1

Nov 2 2009 The Journal

GORDON Strachan insists he won’t be making any snap judgements after bungling Middlesbrough crashed to a dismal 1-0 home defeat in his first game in charge.

Some familiar flaws were on show as the Teessiders missed a string of sitters including an Adam Johnson penalty before a fatal lapse at the back handed all three points to a struggling Plymouth side who kicked off with the worst away record in the Championship and without a clean sheet to their name.

Despite the expectations of the new boss, shot-shy Boro slumped to a fourth home defeat and fourth blank in five home games, slipping out of the play-off positions.

But Strachan refused to jump to any conclusions about his new charges or be drawn on any forays into the transfer market. “You don’t decide who’s good, bad or indifferent after one game,” he declared. “It was nice to see them in a match day atmosphere because you can find out a bit more about them in a match situation.

“But I don’t think it is fair to the players talk about any incoming transfers just yet. I need to learn about them before making any judgments and that has to be done over a regular period of time in training and in matches..”

Yet there is no need for Strachan to spend much time weighing up exactly where Boro’s problems lie. The team drew another blank at the Riverside and in an echo of Gareth Southgate’s reign were booed off after squandering some good chances before being caught with a sucker punch after some shambolic defending.

Boro should have had the opener on 12 minutes when Johnson jinked past three defenders as he cut in from the left to get to the byline then dragged the ball back superbly to lose his marker and squared for Marvin Emnes six yards out but the Dutch striker’s shot was brilliantly blocked as last man Shane Lowry came sliding in.

Then on 36 minutes when a Plymouth corner was cleared upfield Johnson burst forward then played a sublime diagonal ball towards Emnes as he raced towards the box but again Lowry came sliding in to cut out the danger.

And on the stroke of half-time impressive Johnson turned his man on the edge of a crowded box to carve out time and space but fired inches over.

After the break, Julio Arca crossed in from the right and David Wheater stabbed the ball goalwards but it was cleared off the line by defender Kari Arneson then rebounded back off a team-mate and looked to be rolling in for an own goal before keeper Roman Larrieu scrambled to claw it off the line.