We Need To Be Ruthless
GARETH SOUTHGATE says he could have predicted the way the Barrow game went, but he's just delighted to be the next round of the cup.
"It's unbelievable, isn't it?" said the Boro boss after the 2-1 win over Barrow.
"You know we're going to win and you know it's going to be an uncomfortable afternoon. We could have 10 and we could have ended up drawing 2-2 and that's the game in a nutshell really.
"We looked very bright early on, but you knew we'd be edgy as Barrow weren't supposed to win a corner or have a shot according to some people.
"But we're not ruthless enough in our finishing, we hit the post and goalkeeper makes some good saves, but we've had plenty of chances.
"Then we win a corner and I can see that we're not doing our jobs. They break and win a corner and again we don't do our jobs, this time in front of 7,000 of their fans which does affect players, and concede.
"That is us at the minute, until we learn the lessons of being more ruthless at either end of the field we're going to have finished to games like we've just had that we can all do without.
"I knew we'd get through, but it was more fraught than it needed to be."
There were two sour notes to the afternoon as injuries to Jeremie Aliadiere and Mike Pearson both left the field on stretchers.
"Thankfully it doesn't look as though there is a break to Jeremie's leg. We were concerned about the fibula, but it looks as though it may just be deep bruising," Southgate explained.
"But the real downer of the afternoon was the injury to their lad. I don't think it was a bad tackle, but you could hear the crack round the ground"
The injury to Pearson, who is unemployed and on a short-term contract, has been confirmed as a double leg fracture.
"That's a real shame for him, but I do hope that Barrow and their fans can take something and some good memories from the day as they played their part in a game played the way football should be."
