Boro Res 1 Liverpool Res 0 (Aug 18 2004)

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Boro Res 1 LIVERPOOL RES 0

Report by Dave Usher at Billingham Synthonia

Scorer(s) - Half Time - 0-0 Venue - Billingham Synthonia Date - Wed 18 Jul 2004 Star Man - Steve Warnock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A stoppage time goal from Boro youngster James Morrison condemned the reds' reserves to their second successive defeat on a stormy night in the North East.

Hughie McAuley's side contained ten players who have come through the club's Academy, with Igor Biscan being the odd man out. Spanish new boy Antonio Nunez had been pencilled in to make his debut before picking up a knee injury in training.

Kick off had to be delayed for twenty minutes as thunder and lightning swept over the stadium. The storm came out of nowhere, as minutes earlier it had been bright and sunny.

As we waited for the storm to blow over, my two travelling companions and I kept ourselves entertained by discussing how amusing it would be to see Igor struck by a bolt of lightning! Not that we'd wish any harm on the big man, who all three of us actually have a lot of time for.

Nonetheless, for some reason the mental image of Igor's trademark startled expression, and smoke coming off his hair as lightning struck down upon him proved to be a most amusing one for some reason.

The hapless Croatian is of course somwhat accident prone on the field, but surely that would have been the ultimate 'Igor moment'.

Thankfully no such bad luck befell him, the storm blew over as quickly as it had arrived and Igor lined up in the middle of midfield alongside John Welsh when the game eventually got under way.

Liverpool's squad is looking particularly threadbare at the moment after Benitez' ruthless culling of the dead wood. The reserves have been hit pretty hard, especially in terms of attacking options.

With Mellor still out injured (although he's expected back for the next ressies game), Le Tallec out on loan and Flo very much a part of the senior set up at the moment following you know who's departure, Hughie McAuley's attacking options are severely limited at present.

Robbie Foy would normally have played up there, but was on international duty with Scotland u21's, so Mark Smyth was left to lead the line on his own, with midfielder David Mannix pushed forward to play just off him. It's lucky the club reversed Houllier's decision to release Smyth or they'd have had no-one in attack for this game.

Nunez' late withdrawal meant a starting place for 17 year old Danny Guthrie on the right, with Stephen Warnock on the left.

The lack of a cutting edge really hurt the reds, who despite knocking the ball about neatly only managed one serious attempt on the Boro goal in the entire game.

It was a similar story last week against Man City, and until the Boy Mellor returns goals are going to be very hard to come by for McAuley's side.

They started brightly enough though, and for the opening fifteen minutes Liverpool were excellent. Welsh, Biscan and Mannix took control off the game immediately, and with Warnock raiding down the left the reds played some flowing stuff.

But with nothing up top to get on the end of all the good approach play, Boro keeper David Knight was rarely called into action.

The home side didn't field a particularly strong looking line up either, with only former skipper Colin Cooper and ex Man United midfielder Mark Wilson offering experience to an otherwise youthful side.

Cooper went into the book on nine minutes for a crude and cynical foul on Guthrie. A stray pass across the backline was seized upon by the young reds midfielder, who's first touch took him inside Cooper and through on goal. The old pro wasn't going to allow that though and just hacked him down.

The presence of a covering defender was the only thing which prevented a red card for the Boro veteran.

The first opportunity of the game arrived on 14 minutes, and it came the way of the home side. A break down the right ended with the ball being squared to Jason Kennedy, and his instant shot was well turned away by the agile Paul Harrison in the Liverpool goal.

A minute later, another break down the right caught out the reds, and Wilson saw his shot from the edge of the box graze the outside of the post.

The reds hit back with a mazy run and shot by Biscan which was easily dealt with by Knight. Igor had set off on a trademark run through the middle, dropping the shoulder and going past two before hitting his shot straight at the keeper from 20 yards.

Two minutes later and Knight wasn't so comfortable when an underhit backpass saw him put under pressure by the hard working Smyth. The forward closed him down very quickly and managed to block his attempted clearance. The ball could have gone anwhere, but fortunately for Knight it went straight up in the air and was headed away by Cooper.

The game almost spilled over into a brawl on the half hour mark when Warnock was involved in an incident with Cooper and Matthew Bates.

Having shown great pace and determination to burst past two players down the left, Warnock went through another challenge but was struggling to keep his balance. As so often happens when players are in these situations, he then launched himself into the next tackle but didn't time it well and it was high and late.

The player he caught was Bates, and he had every right to be angry in fairness. He leapt to his and tried to confront Warnock, who simply stood there and held his hands up to acknowledge it was a bad tackle and to apologise.

But then in came Cooper for some handbags, and suddenly players appeared from everywhere to try and calm things down. As the senior pro on the field, Cooper really should have been trying to calm the situation, instead he inflamed it.

Warnock received a yellow card, which he will have had no complaints about at all. Stephen will always pick up his share of cards because he's a very combative player who never shirks a tackle.

He's suffered three leg breaks in his career, yet it's never affected his winngness to go in where it hurts. I've said in the past that if Warnock was ever given an opportunity in the first team the fans would take to him because of his commitment and attitude, and under Benitez it looks like that's finally going to happen.

Warnock is a big Liverpool fan and has always been desperate to make it an Anfield. The dream looked to have died as he was sent to Coventry - figuratively as well as literally - by Benitez' predecessor, and he looked all set to leave after a successful loan spell at Highfield Road.

But Rick Parry was instrumental in the offering of a new contract, and clearly Benitez has liked what he's seen so far as he's been involved in both of the reds' first team games so far this season. Things can turn around very quickly in football, as Stephen has discovered.

I'm made up for the lad, as regular visitors to this site will know the high regard I've held him in since he was a kid at the Academy. It's great that the club now has a manager who is prepared to recognise his qualities and reward them.

Warnock was comfortably Liverpool's best player in this game, and he came close to opening the scoring on 36 minutes when he just failed to reach Otsemobor's excellent cross after a couple of 'Semmy stepovers' had helped him reach the byline.

A minute later Wilson was denied by the woodwork for a second time when his shot from distance skimmed the top of the bar.

The first half had been disdappointing as a sepctacle, but it got a hell of a lot worse after the break.

Wilson went close again when he shot just wide on 55 minutes after another right wing cross, and five minutes later McAuley made a change, bringing on Chris Butler for the severely tiring Mannix, who was playing his first game of the season.

Butler went to the left of midfield, with Warnock once again showing his versatility by moving forward to play just off Smyth.

Butler produced the reds' best effort of the game when he stung the palms of Knight with a low shot from 18 yards after good work down the right by Guthrie and Warnock.

Two minutes later Otsemobor was for once beaten by his man and from the resulting cross Harrison produced a great stop to deny Adam Johnson.

With a minute to go it looked like Kennedy was about to win it for the home side when he broke through the centre of the reds defence, but Otsemobor's powers of recovery saw him get back and make a great last ditch tackle to deny him.

Boro were not to be denied however, and in the second of the two stoppage time minutes signalled by the fourth official, Morrison cut in from the left and curled a brilliant shot over Harrison into the top corner.

It was cruel coming so late in the game, but on refelction it was no more than Boro deserved as they had far more goal attempts than the reds.

Liverpool didn't play that badly, and at times they knocked it about well. It's just that they're far too lightweight in attack at present.

Smyth seems to be more effective on the left wing these days, but is having to play up top because there's no-one else. Mannix and Warnock are not forwards either, yet were pushed up there out of necessity.

Things will no doubt improve when Mellor returns, but it's unlikely the reds will be able to repeat last season's second place finish.

But in the long run surely the club - not to mention the wagebill - will be much healthier with a young reserve side full of players trying to make the breakthrough as opposed to having the likes of Diouf, Diao, Traore, Cheyrou et al strolling around.

The main positive to come out of this game was the performance of Warnock, although Otsemobor played pretty well too. No-one played badly, but the team is just not very well balanced due to the lack of frontment, which makes it difficult for everyone else.



Team: Paul Harrison; Jon Otsemobor, David Raven, Danny O'Donnell, Zak Whitbread; Danny Guthrie, John Welsh, Igor Biscan, Stephen Warnock; David Mannix (Chris Butler); Mark Smyth: