Middlesbrough vs. Norwich City 5-1 | English Football League

With a Middlesbrough vs. Norwich City 5-1 victory at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough ruthlessly ended an unfortunate three-game losing streak. The team led by Michael Carrick hadn’t won any of their last three Championship games, so they fell off the edge of the automatic promotion spots they had worked so hard to compete for. After seven minutes, former Canaries loanee Aaron Ramsey set Boro on their way.

Middlesbrough vs. Norwich City 5-1 | English Football League

Hayden Hackney and Cameron Archer followed with goals, and Josh Sargent scored his first goal since February to make the score slightly more manageable. However, Archer got his second before the break thanks to poor defense, and Chuba Akpom scored his 27th league goal shortly after. Despite playing two more games than the Blades, Boro leapfrogged Luton into third place on goal difference, five points behind second-place Sheffield United. Norwich remains eighth, one point behind the top six going into the weekend’s remaining games.

English Football League Standings – Championship

How Middlesbrough bounced back with style?

On a soggy Teesside surface, Middlesbrough was under pressure from the start by a Norwich team still hoping to climb into the top six in the season’s final weeks. However, they took the lead against the flow of play when Ramsey tapped in an Archer pull-back and never looked back.  However, it was two when Hackney rammed in Marcus Forss’ hung-up ball; despite Norwich’s fierceness, the game had been permitted to go on as Sam McCallum lay on the pitch harmed. Sargent pulled one back within a minute, but it was soon canceled out by Archer helping in his second after some shoddy defending from a needless free-kick.

Norwich gave the ball away cheaply, allowing Archer to curl in after a cute ball from Alex Mowatt. Middlesbrough had increased their lead even further before the second half started. Alex Mowatt made a typically excellent tackle, taking the ball away from Gabriel Sara and allowing Archer to square for Akpom, who scored for the eighth time in as many home games to match the Championship record.

It was probably to be expected that much of the second half would go by without a hitch. Sara, on the other hand, hit the post with just under 20 minutes remaining, and Ryan Giles caught Max Aarons on the shin, and he fell in the box. However, referee Josh Smith was skeptical because of his theatrical approach to the ground. Archer attempted to complete his hat trick in the game’s final minutes by ignoring the overlapping run. However, Angus Gunn was able to match his effort, so it didn’t matter anyway.

Middlesbrough’s Michael Carrick said:

“We played pretty well. I think we’ve played better at times, to be honest! We were ruthless at both ends of the pitch, and I’m delighted to return to winning ways. A good night all around for us.

“We were calm after our results over the last couple of weeks. Performances were still there, largely. We didn’t have much to change; we had to improve a little bit, but we still believed in the right things and that it would turn for us, and it has tonight. The next few games are a fresh challenge, so we’ll have to recover well and see who’s fit for Wednesday night.”

Norwich’s David Wagner said:

“At the end of the day, we made horrendous mistakes, to be honest, in front of both goals. We came into the game quite well; we had an excellent opportunity when it was 0-0 and a perfect option when we were 1-0 down. Then we conceded the second goal, which was a little unlucky because our left-back was on the ground, and then they attacked our left side. Then we lost our heads. We made some horrendous individual mistakes when we conceded the goals why we lost this game.

“We will do it like we have done the whole time; we will do it game by game. Now it’s about trying to analyze this game, which will be quite easy, to be fair, because they are individual mistakes that were clear and Boro us, ed them.”