Not so long ago Isaiah Jones slipped out of the first-team picture at Middlesbrough after requiring medical care to address mental health issues. There were fears that the gifted one-time Tooting & Mitcham right winger may slide back into non-league football but Michael Carrick never gave up on his talent and the Middlesbrough manager’s faith was fully vindicated as Jones illuminated this Wear-Tees derby.
By the time he scored Boro’s third goal, Sunderland were undone and their hopes of securing a fifth win in six Championship games in tatters. Admittedly, it may have been very different had Dan Neil not been sent off somewhat contentiously, close to half-time but Boro’s fourth straight second-tier victory certainly suggested Carrick has accomplished quite a turn around after an appalling start to the season raised questions about his future. “I’m more than pleased,” he said. “We were ruthless.”
The close-season loss of, among other key players, last season’s star forwards, Chuba Akpom and Cameron Archer, weakened Boro but, with new recruits slowly gelling, Carrick has reset and regalvanised last spring’s playoff semi-finalists.
In the 1980s, Tony Mowbray was such an outstanding Middlesbrough centre-half that he earned enduring cult status at the club. Sunderland’s manager still lives on Teesside and had a Boro season ticket-holding son in the away end on Saturday but the time for any conflicted interests has long since passed. Much as Mowbray would like Boro, a club he has also managed, to join Sunderland in winning promotion to the Premier League he was desperate to disappoint his former employers.
That task was complicated appreciably when Neil was dismissed after collecting a second yellow card for dissent. Although the midfielder swore, Mowbray maintained it was in frustration at the failure of the referee, Jarred Gillett, to punish a foul on his teammate Jack Clarke rather than directly at the official. “I don’t see the logic at all,’ said Sunderland’s manager. “In the manager’s meeting beforehand the referee said he was going to be empathetic and then he goes and give a red card for gesticulating.
“I found it ridiculous. Dan’s distraught. Surely the referee’s got to show some empathy for the emotion of the occasion, Dan’s a young man, playing in front of nearly 45,000 in a local derby. I don’t often swear but, when you get emotional, it can happen.”
Further drama ensued as the whistle blew for the interval. Seconds earlier, Boro’s Josh Coburn had led with his elbow as he challenged Daniel Ballard and the fallout from the latter’s angry reaction led to a melee. Carrick sprinted on to the field, ordering his warring players to calm down and when sanity was restored Gillett contented himself with booking Coburn and Ballard.
Earlier fine goalkeeping from Boro’s Seny Dieng kept the scoreline goalless, with one stellar save from Patrick Roberts lingering in the memory. That said, Coburn struck an upright after Anthony Patterson could only parry a drive from Sam Greenwood.
Undeterred, the Wearside-born Greenwood – schooled in Sunderland’s academy and on loan from Leeds – was celebrating in the 58th minute after meeting Dael Fry’s fine cross and lashing the ball inexorably beyond Patterson.
Two minutes later, Boro scored again when Jones’s cut-back was turned in from close range by Matt Crooks.
Those home fans who immediately headed for the exits missed seeing Jones scored a much-deserved third Boro goal involving the winger nonchalantly stepping inside a Sunderland challenge before punishing Patterson courtesy of a sublime left-foot shot.
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By the time Marcus Forss added a 90th-minute fourth Mowbray looked desperate for the final whistle. “We’ll put that game in the bin,” he said. “But Boro are a good team; they know how to pick the right pass.”
