Championship · Matchday 6 · Riverside Stadium
Middlesbrough v Millwall
A rearranged fixture with first place attached to it. Middlesbrough have 13 points from six matches; West Ham, West Brom and Swansea lead on 14, all from seven. A win tonight takes Boro to 16 — more than any club in the division currently holds. Millwall arrive having won three and lost three, with no draws at all: one of only three clubs yet to share the points this season.
Before kick-off: how the two teams stand
Middlesbrough 4W 1D 1L · 13 points
| WH v Lincoln | 2-1 |
| LA v Blackburn | 1-2 |
| WH v West Brom | 3-1 |
| DA v Burnley | 1-1 |
| WA v QPR | 1-0 |
| WH v Norwich | 4-3 |
Millwall 3W 0D 3L · 9 points
| WA v Bristol City | 2-0 |
| WH v Norwich | 3-0 |
| LA v Southampton | 1-5 |
| LH v Wrexham | 0-3 |
| WH v Bolton | 4-0 |
| LA v Blackburn | 1-3 |
League matches completed before this fixture. Figures are correct as at kick-off and are not updated during the match.
Kim Hellberg, speaking to the Northern Echo on 14 September, set the run of results against the summer his squad has had:
“That’s with 12 new players, with almost no-one having a pre-season … But I think the team has shown strong character through this period and got a lot of good results from it.”
Live commentary
Commentary updates automatically below — no need to refresh the page.
ARCHIVE Match commentary archive · 60 updates
SCORE2·261'
90+4'fulltimeFull-time, 2-2
90+1'comment3 added, Millwall desperate for this point
90'commentCorner — Middlesbrough, won by Arfsten again
89'commentCorner — Middlesbrough
86'commentShot — Middlesbrough, J. Sarmiento curling shot from a tight angle outside the box so close to finding the far top corner there
86'sub🔄 D. Strelec replaced A. Cozier-Duberry
84'sub🔄 L. Cundle back from injury and Y. Issoufou replace Zak Norton Sturge and M. Sykes
79'commentShot — Middlesbrough, Long ball finds Peart-Harris who gets a clear shot at goal but cushions it straight at Crocombe, good chance
78'sub🔄 McGree replaced by M. Peart-Harris
75'sub🔄 Jenson Metcalfe and T. Arconte replaced by D. Kelly and Z. Lovelace
73'commentCorner — Middlesbrough, Couple of good chances for Middlesbrough, Cozier-Duberry's cross is excellently blocked by Taylor to stop it going to Lankshear for a tap-in. Cozier-Duberry got it back again, and his shot deflected behind
73'commentShot — Millwall, Starting to get back in the game now the away side, as a shot trickles wide of the near post
67'commentShot — Millwall, Cross comes in from Millwall and E. Baggott loses Phillips but he heads too close to Vitek who makes a good save. Good chance for Millwall to get back in front
66'card🟨 Yellow for Riley McGree
64'commentFree kick — Middlesbrough, After a handball from Mazou-Sacko just outside the box
61'goalGreat cross in by Ayling, Lankshear loses Taylor and nods past Crocombe!
61'goal⚽ Middlesbrough equalise! W. Lankshear, 2-2
61'score2-2
59'card🟨 Yellow for Mazou-Sacko
56'sub🔄 L. Dykes makes way for E. Baggott
55'commentCorner — Middlesbrough, Sturge blocks Cozier-Duberry's cross
53'commentCorner — Middlesbrough, Great save from Crocombe! Free kick headed towards goal by K. Joseph but Crocombe pushes away
53'commentFree kick — Middlesbrough, Dangerous area
50'goalThe corner is cleared only as far as A. Cozier-Duberry on the edge of the box, whose shot deflects off of Mazou-Sacko and in
50'goal⚽ Cozier-Duberry pulls one back! 1-2
50'commentCorner — Middlesbrough, Cross cleared behind J. Osei-Tutu
50'score1-2
48'commentShot — Middlesbrough, A. Cozier-Duberry cuts inside into space just outside the box, his shot is parried away by Crocombe
HTkickoffKick-off for the second half
HTsub🔄 J. Sarmiento, M. Arfsten, K. Joseph replace T. Conway, Neto Borges and S. Berhalter
45+2'halftimeHalf-time, 0-2
45+1'commentMiddlesbrough struggling to find the final ball
45+1'comment1 added
43'commentA. Cozier-Duberry doing step overs and going nowhere, big time Charlie
39'commentMiddlesbrough having all the ball, but Millwall have defended resiliently and very well
36'goalCorner swung in, first header won by Mazou-Sacko, Cooper powerfully squared it across the six yard area for Dykes to tap home!
36'goal⚽ 0-2 Millwall! L. Dykes
36'score0-2
34'commentCorner — Middlesbrough, Borges' cross steered behind by Cooper
29'commentCorner — Middlesbrough, Brilliant ball in from Berhalter towards Lankshear but C. Taylor gets an outstanding faint touch on the ball to turn it behind, stopped a certain goal
27'commentCorner — Middlesbrough, Dykes gets in the way of Ayling's shot
27'commentCorner — Middlesbrough, A. Cozier-Duberry gets away from Neghli but Sturge blocks his cross behind
20'commentFrom the corner Phillips heads across and it falls to McGree who backheels towards goal, his backheel bobbles up off another player and it is headed away near to the goal line by Sturge
19'commentShot — Middlesbrough, A. Cozier-Duberry sends a good cross in that is left by Crocombe as he thought it was going out but Lankshear was at the far post and Crcombe got a very lucky foot on it to help it over the bar, Very lucky
15'commentShot — Millwall, Long throw in by Dykes is headed toward goal after 'Boro let it bounce but Vitek saves comfortably
11'goalNeghli wins it back and plays a great long bell in behind Ayling through to Arconte who drives into the box, cuts inside and nicely finishes it off of the near post and in. Great start for Millwall but questions on Ayling and maybe Vitek too.
11'goal⚽ Goal Millwall against the run of play, nicely done by Arconte! 0-1
10'score0-1
9'commentShot — Middlesbrough, Cooper gives it away and Lankshear plays it into Cozier-Duberry who twists and turns once more, eventually gets the shot off straight at Crocombe
5'commentFree Kick — Millwall, on the left hand side won well by Sturgeedited
4'commentShot — Middlesbrough., Berhalter clipped a ball in and Millwall couldn't clear, R. McGree slices a difficult chance wide
3'commentCorner — Middlesbrough, A. Cozier-Duberry charges forward and his cross is blocked behind by Sturge
19:47commenttest
19:45kickoffKick-off at The Riverside
19:44commentMILLWALL TEAM NEWS: Millwall undergoing an injury crisis with De Norre, Crama, Doughty, Servais, Leonard, Ivanovic, Coburn, Esse and Lisbie all out. 1 change from the defeat to Norwich as Esse is replaced by Sykes.
19:40commentMIDDLESBROUGH TEAM NEWS: 2 changes from the dramatic 4-3 win over Norwich, L. Ayling and A. Phillips both come in for @h5 and Adilson Malanda, who are both out the squad injured. Byram and Castledine both return to the bench.
19:36commentMillwall Bench: F. Marschall, E. Baggott, D. Batth, Tristan Parkes, D. Kelly, Alfie Massey, L. Cundle, Y. Issoufou, Z. Lovelace
19:36commentMiddlesbrough Bench: S. Brynn, S. Byram, Leo Castledine, M. Peart-Harris, R. Pukštas, M. Arfsten, J. Sarmiento, K. Joseph, D. Strelec
19:32commentlineups
19:31score0-0
What the models say
Two models run on this fixture and they point the same way. The outcome model makes it 60.5% Middlesbrough, 21.3% a draw, 18.2% Millwall. The goals model expects about 1.67 goals for Middlesbrough and 1.01 for Millwall; summed across every scoreline that gives Middlesbrough 53.0%, so it is the less emphatic of the two.
The figure worth watching is the margin rather than the score: the goals model puts it at 63.2% to finish within one goal. Beyond that it is close to even — 50.1% for over 2.5 goals, 51.4% that both sides score. The three likeliest scores are 1-0 (11.6%), 1-1 (11.4%) and 2-1 (9.7%), which is about one chance in eight apiece: a flat pile rather than a confident call.
Match Prediction
The table before kick-off
Match commentary timeline
Auto-generated from live commentary. 60 entries between kickoff and full-time.
3′ comment Corner — Middlesbrough, A. Cozier-Duberry charges forward and his cross is blocked behind by Sturge
4′ comment Shot — Middlesbrough., Berhalter clipped a ball in and Millwall couldn’t clear, R. McGree slices a difficult chance wide
5′ comment Free Kick — Millwall, on the left hand side won well by Sturge
9′ comment Shot — Middlesbrough, Cooper gives it away and Lankshear plays it into Cozier-Duberry who twists and turns once more, eventually gets the shot off straight at Crocombe
10′ score 0-1
11′ goal ⚽ Goal Millwall against the run of play, nicely done by Arconte! 0-1
11′ goal Neghli wins it back and plays a great long bell in behind Ayling through to Arconte who drives into the box, cuts inside and nicely finishes it off of the near post and in. Great start for Millwall but questions on Ayling and maybe Vitek too.
15′ comment Shot — Millwall, Long throw in by Dykes is headed toward goal after ‘Boro let it bounce but Vitek saves comfortably
19′ comment Shot — Middlesbrough, A. Cozier-Duberry sends a good cross in that is left by Crocombe as he thought it was going out but Lankshear was at the far post and Crcombe got a very lucky foot on it to help it over the bar, Very lucky
20′ comment From the corner Phillips heads across and it falls to McGree who backheels towards goal, his backheel bobbles up off another player and it is headed away near to the goal line by Sturge
27′ comment Corner — Middlesbrough, A. Cozier-Duberry gets away from Neghli but Sturge blocks his cross behind
27′ comment Corner — Middlesbrough, Dykes gets in the way of Ayling’s shot
29′ comment Corner — Middlesbrough, Brilliant ball in from Berhalter towards Lankshear but C. Taylor gets an outstanding faint touch on the ball to turn it behind, stopped a certain goal
34′ comment Corner — Middlesbrough, Borges’ cross steered behind by Cooper
36′ score 0-2
36′ goal ⚽ 0-2 Millwall! L. Dykes
36′ goal Corner swung in, first header won by Mazou-Sacko, Cooper powerfully squared it across the six yard area for Dykes to tap home!
39′ comment Middlesbrough having all the ball, but Millwall have defended resiliently and very well
43′ comment A. Cozier-Duberry doing step overs and going nowhere, big time Charlie
HT sub 🔄 J. Sarmiento, M. Arfsten, K. Joseph replace T. Conway, Neto Borges and S. Berhalter
HT kickoff Kick-off for the second half
45+1′ comment 1 added
45+1′ comment Middlesbrough struggling to find the final ball
45+2′ halftime Half-time, 0-2
48′ comment Shot — Middlesbrough, A. Cozier-Duberry cuts inside into space just outside the box, his shot is parried away by Crocombe
50′ score 1-2
50′ comment Corner — Middlesbrough, Cross cleared behind J. Osei-Tutu
50′ goal ⚽ Cozier-Duberry pulls one back! 1-2
50′ goal The corner is cleared only as far as A. Cozier-Duberry on the edge of the box, whose shot deflects off of Mazou-Sacko and in
53′ comment Free kick — Middlesbrough, Dangerous area
53′ comment Corner — Middlesbrough, Great save from Crocombe! Free kick headed towards goal by K. Joseph but Crocombe pushes away
55′ comment Corner — Middlesbrough, Sturge blocks Cozier-Duberry’s cross
56′ sub 🔄 L. Dykes makes way for E. Baggott
59′ card 🟨 Yellow for Mazou-Sacko
61′ score 2-2
61′ goal ⚽ Middlesbrough equalise! W. Lankshear, 2-2
61′ goal Great cross in by Ayling, Lankshear loses Taylor and nods past Crocombe!
64′ comment Free kick — Middlesbrough, After a handball from Mazou-Sacko just outside the box
66′ card 🟨 Yellow for Riley McGree
67′ comment Shot — Millwall, Cross comes in from Millwall and E. Baggott loses Phillips but he heads too close to Vitek who makes a good save. Good chance for Millwall to get back in front
73′ comment Shot — Millwall, Starting to get back in the game now the away side, as a shot trickles wide of the near post
73′ comment Corner — Middlesbrough, Couple of good chances for Middlesbrough, Cozier-Duberry’s cross is excellently blocked by Taylor to stop it going to Lankshear for a tap-in. Cozier-Duberry got it back again, and his shot deflected behind
75′ sub 🔄 Jenson Metcalfe and T. Arconte replaced by D. Kelly and Z. Lovelace
78′ sub 🔄 McGree replaced by M. Peart-Harris
79′ comment Shot — Middlesbrough, Long ball finds Peart-Harris who gets a clear shot at goal but cushions it straight at Crocombe, good chance
84′ sub 🔄 L. Cundle back from injury and Y. Issoufou replace Zak Norton Sturge and M. Sykes
86′ sub 🔄 D. Strelec replaced A. Cozier-Duberry
86′ comment Shot — Middlesbrough, J. Sarmiento curling shot from a tight angle outside the box so close to finding the far top corner there
89′ comment Corner — Middlesbrough
90′ comment Corner — Middlesbrough, won by Arfsten again
90+1′ comment 3 added, Millwall desperate for this point
90+4′ fulltime Full-time, 2-2
score 0-0
comment lineups
comment Middlesbrough Bench: S. Brynn, S. Byram, Leo Castledine, M. Peart-Harris, R. Pukštas, M. Arfsten, J. Sarmiento, K. Joseph, D. Strelec
comment Millwall Bench: F. Marschall, E. Baggott, D. Batth, Tristan Parkes, D. Kelly, Alfie Massey, L. Cundle, Y. Issoufou, Z. Lovelace
comment MIDDLESBROUGH TEAM NEWS: 2 changes from the dramatic 4-3 win over Norwich, L. Ayling and A. Phillips both come in for @h5 and Adilson Malanda, who are both out the squad injured. Byram and Castledine both return to the bench.
comment MILLWALL TEAM NEWS: Millwall undergoing an injury crisis with De Norre, Crama, Doughty, Servais, Leonard, Ivanovic, Coburn, Esse and Lisbie all out. 1 change from the defeat to Norwich as Esse is replaced by Sykes.
kickoff Kick-off at The Riverside
comment test
