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4 hours ago
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Matt Targett’s first-half double helped Middlesbrough return to winning ways with a 3-1 victory over Birmingham and further boost their hopes of promotion to the Premier League.
Third-place Millwall’s triumph against Preston at the weekend cut the gap to just the one point coming into the match, but Kim Hellberg’s side responded to restore their four-point advantage in second place. Birmingham lost just their second league game at St Andrew’s since May 2024, meaning their chances of finishing in the playoffs have slipped further away. They remain eight points off the top six.
The visitors were on a three-game winless run ahead of their trip to the Midlands, but quickly extinguished any fears their season was beginning to stutter when Targett hit a first-half brace to double his season tally. Marvin Ducksch brought Birmingham back into the game with his ninth league goal of the season, but David Strelec restored Boro’s two-goal advantage with his first goal of the calendar year.
The night did not begin too comfortably for Boro, who were almost punished in the third minute when Tommy Doyle took advantage of a misplaced pass and rifled an effort towards goal but Sol Brynn managed to palm behind. However, the promotion chasers showed their quality with the first proper opportunity of the match to open the scoring in the 13th minute.
Aidan Morris hit a diagonal ball into the path of Targett, who timed his run perfectly to get behind the defence and tuck home a composed finish beyond James Beadle. Targett made 89 appearances for Birmingham’s arch rivals Aston Villa, and he was quick to silence the home supporters with his celebration.
The goal completely shifted the momentum and Middlesbrough capitalised once again by doubling their advantage 13 minutes later. Christoph Klarer lost possession in a dangerous area to Hayden Hackney and the midfielder nodded to Targett, who was on hand to bury his second goal of the night.
The home fans were not happy with what they were seeing as boos and jeers started to ring around St Andrew’s, mainly aimed at Beadle who had made a couple of sloppy passes. Just like the first half Birmingham came out of the traps in the second period, with Kai Wagner taking aim straight at Brynn. It took just three minutes of the second half for the hosts to halve the deficit after Jay Stansfield broke the offside trap and cut back for Ducksch to roll home.
All of a sudden the away side looked nervous and Brynn produced a fine save to deny Ducksch from equalising.
Middlesbrough settled those nerves as they re-established their two-goal lead on the hour. Luke Ayling provided a dangerous cross for Strelec to guide his header in off the post and earn a much-needed three points for Boro.
The Middlesbrough manager, Kim Hellberg, who switched his formation from a back four to three centre-halves, said: “The big difference was the defensive shape. Sometimes you get those things right, sometimes wrong. To guess Matt was going to score two goals from that position was not in the plans.
“But he did brilliantly, he deserved it. I’m very happy for him (Targett), he’s such a good guy. He’s been playing through pain, all sorts of things in different periods. He’s always got a smile on his face and been absolutely brilliant.
“Of course, it was connected with how we wanted to press them, and that showed how good they are in adapting to different game plans.”
The Birmingham manager, Chris Davies, admitted it will take “something special” for his side to earn a top-six finish. He said: “It was a really disappointing evening for us, we haven’t had too many like that since I’ve been here but that was one of them.”
