March 02, (THEWILL) – Middlesbrough knocked Tottenham out of the FA Cup with a 106th-minute goal from Josh Coburn, condemning Antonio Conte’s team to a disappointing 1-0 extra-time defeat at the Riverside Stadium.
From the start, it was clear that Spurs were willing to give Middlesbrough possession in order to create space in the opposite direction.
Dejan Kulusevski, who has settled in well at Tottenham, manoeuvred his way into the Boro penalty box and appeared poised to shoot from point-blank range early on. But, Dael Fry recovered quickly to deny the former Juventus player with an exquisite sliding challenge.
Spurs’ counter-attack threat was highlighted in the 38th minute, when they had possibly the finest chance of the first half. When Boro goalkeeper Joe Lumley rushed out of his goal, Matt Doherty was released into space down the right side. The former Wolves man brushed aside the challenge, but with the goal gaping from range, he miscued his finish horribly.
However, the best chance of the game belonged to Middlesbrough from a corner shortly after the interval. Jonny Howson’s delivery was met by Matt Crooks, unmarked and from five yards out, but the midfielder steered his header over to the dismay of the home support.
Harry Kane then had the ball in the net from a corner after Eric Dier had previously worked Lumley from a free-kick, but the linesman raised his offside flag to curb the Spurs celebrations.
Howson nearly caught out Hugo Lloris at his near post from a free-kick routine involving Marcus Tavernier in the 64th minute, but his effort flew wide.
Folarin Balogun then got on the end of a flowing Boro move ten minutes from time, but the on-loan Arsenal man was leaning back when he unleashed his finish from inside the penalty area.
Antonio Conte brought on Steven Bergwijn from the bench, and the Dutchman almost immediately made an impression with a sprint into the penalty area. However, just as he was ready to squeeze the trigger, Paddy McNair flew over to avert the danger.
Middlesbrough should have won it with a flurry of chances in the final minutes of normal time. First, Lloris made an excellent save to deny Isaiah Jones after Tavernier freed the winger inside the penalty area, then Howson met the following corner in space but could only flick his header beyond.
Son had a number of chances to break the deadlock either side of the full-time siren, but Lloris was called into action 14 minutes into extra time when Tavernier met Jones’ cross with a side-foot volley at the far post.
Middlesbrough’s efforts were rewarded barely one minute into the second half of extra time. Substitute Coburn latched onto Howson’s clever through pass before settling himself to hammer his effort beyond Lloris into the far corner.
Conte cut a forlorn face on the sidelines as Spurs failed to respond, prolonging their cup misery in recent years as another chance for silverware went up in smokes.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
