Full-time: Middlesbrough 3-0 Brentford (agg: 5-1)
Boro are on their way to Wembley, and it might just be a stopver en route to the Premier League! Only Ipswich or Norwich can stop them now - to find out which, tune in here tomorrow. Bye!
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90 + 1 min: Adomah tries to crown a brilliant personal performance with a brilliant solo goal ... but his swerving shot from a difficult angle 25 yards out flies just over.
90 min: “It’s a shame for Warburton’s Brentford career to end with a whimper but as a Brentford fan I can’t have asked for a better season,” says stoic Tony Cross. “We came into this expected by pundits to be relegated and ended up making the play-offs. We’ve played good football. Scored some lovely goals. We beat Fulham home and away. Next season we’ve got QPR and Fulham to look forward to and mostly we’ve had a great time. Let’s hope for more of the same next season.”
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88 min: Here comes Adomah, whom I think has just been named man of the match, if I heard the stadium announcer correctly above the jubilating Boro fans. A good decision, if so.
85 min: Hats off to Brentford for not walking off in a huff, which they must be tempted to do. They’re still banging away in the hope of getting at least a goal. But Boro are vibrant and fancy a fourth...
82 min: Boro change: Tomlin off, Forshaw on.
80 min: Boro are utterly rampant and it doesn’t look like they’ve finished scoring, Mind you, they’ll have to do better than Tomlin did just now, the midfielder firing way wide from 20 yards after another cutting move.
GOAL! Boro 3-0 Brentford (Adomah 78) (agg: 5-1)
That’s a lovely goal on the counter, and one that Adomah deserved! Following neat interplay with Vossen, the winger coolly rounded the keeper and walloped the ball into the net via the underside of the crossbar, which always makes it extra satisfying!
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75 min: Tomlin punces on a breaking ball in midfield and sprints towards the box. Will he make it 3-0 on the night? No! Because Tarkowski still has pride and he charges back to make an excellent saving tackle near the penalty spot.
73 min: Clayton is not in the move to show any mercy: after brentford’s best move of the game, it seemed like the visitors might nick a consolation goal, but Clayton denied them even that, hurtling back to put Long off: the substitute blazed wide from 10 yards.
71 min: Brentford change: Diagouraga off, Long on.
70 min: As Brentford prepare to make their final substitution, let’s turn our attention to more pertinent matters: who will Boro face in the final, Ipswich or Norwich? I can’t help thinking ol’ Mick McCarthy has some Merlin-esque magic left to spin....
67 min: Middlesbrough change: Kike is withdrawn, no doubt ti preserve him for the final (by which time Bamford should be fit, too). On comes Adam Reach.
65 min: Adomah gets up a gallop again, then slips a nice pass through to Vossen, who tries to pick out Kike arriving in the centre. Diagouraga stretches out a leg to poke the ball away and prevent the forward from inflicting further damage.
63 min: Adomah, who has been a constant menace down the right, has a pop from 20 yards. Well held by the keeper.
62 min: Corner to Boro: can they embellish the festivities? Not like that, they can’t. Tomlin fires a weak first-time shot at goal from 25 yards after the corner is pulled back to him. It’s blocked.
60 min: Two Brentford changes as they grasp for a miracle: Bidwell and Jota off, Dalles and Toral on.
Boro 2-0 Brentford (Kike 55) (agg: 4-1)
Pandemonium at the Riverside as Boro book their place in the play-off final with a deadly counter-attack! Jota gave the ball away to Tomlin on mid-way and the midfielder played in Vossen, who showed fine composure (and a bit of luck) to hold off Tarkowski and draw the keeper before laying it off to Kike, who slammed the ball into the net before tearing off his jersey and cavroting with his team-mates. That’s a yellow card and unforgettable glory for him!
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54 min: Pritchard jinks and darts at the edge of the box, and the floats the ball into the box. Two forwards challenge for it but the keeper gathers with no bother.
52 min: A loose pas by Brentford after a spell of promising possession opens up the chance of a counter for Boro. The cross is over-hit, but the warning is clear for the visitors.
50 min: Jota tries to twist his way into the box, then gets off a reasonable low shot from 16 yards, but the keeper saves comfortably. Still, there are traces of hope here for Brentford, who have looked more threatening in the last few minutes than at any previous time in the game.
48 min: Brilliabt ball by Odubajo from the right! Gray throws himself at it but just fails to connect six yards out.
47 min: Boro show that Brentford still have a lot ot worry about at the back as they pursue the goals they need. Adomah delivers a fine cross from the right, fractionally too long for Kike.
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46 min: The players are back, but what can Brentford do differently? That’s what we’re about to find out. The first minute suggests, at least, that they don’t intend to go down with a whimper, as there’s new pep about their approach.
Half-time: Boro 1-0 Brentford (agg: 3-1)
That could barely have gone better for Karanka’s side. They succesfully neutralised Brentford early doors and then established their own superiority going forward. Brentford needs at least two goals and some new ideas, because at the moment the only thing that looks capable of preventing from Boro from getting to Wembley is congestion on the motorway.
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45+1 min: A fine last-gasp tackle by Dean deprives Kike off an opportunity to make it 2-0 before the break.
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44 min: Odubajo nicks the ball in his own half and sets up a Brentford attack. But again it peters out as soon as Boro rally. They’re dominant all over the pitch.
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42 min: A rare lapse by Boro as Ayala fails to intercept a cross from the right. Happily for him, Gray was so surprised that he, in turn, failed to apply a proper header, nodding wide from 10 yards. Brentford really can’t afford to be botching chances like that.
38 min: Boro are absolutely bossing this and Brentford have a job on their hands to avoid being put out of the tie before half-time. Honestly, the last time anyone from Middlesbrough was looking so impressive, Paul Daniels was doing tricks with Shirley Bassey.
34 min: The referee has lost his patience: so Adam Clayton gets a yellow card for chopping down Pritchard. Guess you could say he went over The Edge.
32 min: Gray tries to race between two defenders and into the box, but Boro’s defence are diligent and Gibson snuffs out the danger. And now, a pertinent observation from Russ Brady: “Isn’t it great that when you get out of the Premier League you encounter players like Tomlin who clearly, as my wife likes to say, ‘get home for their dinner’?”
30 min: Jota curls in a corner, which Kike nuts away at the front post.
27 min: No sign of Boro relenting, and no sign of a Brentford revival until, that is, Douglas broke up a Boro attack and the visitors hurtled forward on the counter, winning a corner as Leadbitter cuts out a cross - at some cost to himself, apparently, as he he is now down in need of treatment for some manner of strain.
Stat’s the way to do it: Boro have lost just once this season after scoring the first goal. In terms of omens for Brentford, then, Tomlin’s goal is a black cat walking under a ladder with 666 carved into its flammable fur.
Boro 1-0 Brentford (Tomlin 23) (agg: 3-1)
Beautiful goal! This time Adomah decided against crossing and instead rolled a pass to Tomlin at the edge of the area, and Tomlin bends a wonderful shot into the top corner! The Riverside explodes with joy!
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22 min: Unable to pick a way through Boro, Brentford try a few long balls. No luck on that front either. They’re looking short of ideas at the moment, being outplayed tactically, physically and even technically by the hosts.
19 min: Adomah, who is regulaly finding time and space on the ball, does not make wise use of it on this occassion, curling a cross straight to Button. But Boro are looking the better side at the moment...
16 min: For the first time in the match, Brentford manage to work a player into space within shooting distance. Jota’s drive from 20 yards is on target but lacks the power to bother Konstantopoulous, hereafter referred to exclusively as “the kepeer”.
14 min: Friend winds up a long throw on the left before hurling the ball into the six-yard box, but BRentford clear easily. But the home team are more dynamic all over the pitch at the moment and quickly regain possession before pinging a pass into Tomlin in the box. His low centre is cut out.
12 min: Mason calls over the Boro captain and orders him to instruct his team-mates to cut out the rough stuff. Wouldn’t a yellow card have conveyed the same message? Didn’t the ref follow the recent general election? He wouldn’t get anywhere with his lovee-dovee liberalism. Flog the next fouler and be done with him!
11 min: Brentford are having plenty of the ball but Boro’s disciplined shape and frantic pressing are preventing the visitors from getting anywhere near goal at the moment.
10 min: Adomah pings in another cross, but Tarkowski heads it away again.
8 min: Nifty work down the right by Adomah as Boro start to pose a challenge beyond bruising tackles. But the winger’s cross is cleared.
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6 min: Leadbitter drops a nice ball behind the BRentford defence for Kike to chase. But Dean shows nous to get back and usher the Spaniard off the ball before he could strike.
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4 min: Referee Lee Mason is taking a lenient line here amid a maelstrom of clunking early challenges, mainly from Middlesbrough, who appear determined to disrupt Brentford’s flow by any means necessary. It’ll be interesting to see at what point the ref figures they’ve taken it too far.
2 min: George Friend bears his name about as well as Claudio Gentile used to, as the defender mows down Moses Odubajo and is lucky to escape an early booking.
1 min: Off we go! For those of you watching in black and white, Brentford are the team in yellow. Middlesbrough, meanwhile, are wearing a jersey that is predominantly red but with has a white sash across the front, giving them a beauty queen look. Kind of.
The Riverside is alive with the sound of gleeful anticipation. It’s like we’ve been transported back in in time to the Steve McClaren. Who will be tonight’s Massimo Maccarone?
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Thus spake Karanka just now: “I don’t know how to prepare games to draw. It’s a big mistake to go onto the pitch to think it’s OK. to draw.”
Regarding Bamford, the manager says he hasn’t trained all week but could be deployed if needed.
As for Mark Warburton, he thinks Brentford are goign to have to score two goals tonight. Here’s the quote if you don’t believe me: “I think we’re going to have to score two goals tonight.” Newspaper of record, folks, newspaper of record.
“A bracing seven b’s in your last sentence,” notes Toby Stone. “Given it’s football is this Balliteration?”
The line-ups are in and they prompt tonight’s first tongue-twister. See if you can say this really fast out loud without mashign the words or, indeed, drawing quizzical looks from the people around you: A blow for Boro and a boon for Brentford as Bamford begins on the bench.
Preamble:
Right, here are the facts: Middlesbrough have a 2-1 led from the first leg; they also have the best defensive record in the Championship and have only lost once at home since August. As for Brentford, well, they have a hell of a task in front of them, plus an enormous carrot - not one of those inflatable ones that seem to have gone out of fashion at football grounds like their banana counterparts, but a giant metaphorical one, as in A Place In The Play-Off Final and a Crack at the Premier League.
Imagine, Brentford in the Premier League! It’s like putting a man on Mars! Except that man has never been on Mars, whereas Brentford were a top-flight side 70 years ago when, as it happens, a 0-0 draw at home to Middlesbrough all but condemned them to relegation. Is this payback time? Vengeance is a pie best served stale.
Teams:
Middlesbrough: Konstantopoulos, Whitehead, Ayala, Gibson, Friend, Clayton, Leadbitter, Adomah, Vossen, Tomlin, Garcia.
Subs: Ripley, Reach, Nsue, Amorebieta, Forshaw, Woodgate, Bamford.
Brentford: Button, Odubajo, Dean, Tarkowski, Bidwell, Diagouraga, Douglas, Jota, Judge, Pritchard, Gray.
Subs: Craig, McCormack, Dallas, Bonham, Toral, Smith, Long.
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire)
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