Middlesbrough moved to the top of the Championship for the first time since mid-October as they delivered an excellent performance to beat 10-man Sheffield United.
First-half goals from Tommy Conway and Riley McGree made it six wins in a row, their best run since October 2023, as they opened up a two-point gap over previous leaders Coventry City, taking full advantage of the Sky Blues’ goalless draw with Oxford United on Saturday.
And this result sets things up perfectly for a meeting between the top two at the CBS Arena next Monday.
Patrick Bamford halved the deficit on 73 minutes for the Blades but their hopes were dashed as substitute Joe Rothwell was sent off on his debut for a wild lunge on Alan Browne.
This ended a mini revival of seven points from their past three games and was a first home defeat since 1 November for Chris Wilder’s side, who remain 16th and eight points outside the play-off spots, but still closer to the bottom three.
Boro flying under Hellberg
Kim Hellberg is managing for the first time in EnglandWhen Boro lost at home to Coventry on 25 November, they were 10 points behind the Sky Blues with Kim Hellberg waiting in the wings to replace Rob Edwards after his acrimonious departure to Wolves.
But while Frank Lampard’s side have stuttered in the months since that game, Boro have been flying.
Their last defeat by Derby County on New Year’s Day left them nine adrift of Coventry, but since then they have six straight wins, scoring 15 goals.
And perhaps most tellingly for their promotion rivals, they have won games in different ways but with confidence growing with each consecutive triumph.
Here they needed goalkeeper Sol Brynn to make good saves from Gustavo Hamer and Andre Brooks in the opening quarter of an hour.
But even then, Boro’s football was still good enough to create plenty of chances going forward themselves, with McGree and Morgan Whittaker passing up good opportunities to score.
The pair played a part in a fine team goal with Australian McGree slipping a ball into the path of Conway, who confidently shot across Michael Cooper as the Scotland forward made it four goals in his last four games.
There could have been a second as their fluidity caused the home side a host of problems but McGree and Hayden Hackney were narrowly off target.
The all-important second did arrive though on the stroke of half-time, with captain Hackney driving forward from midfield. His deflected shot struck the base of the post and bounced up perfectly for McGree, who was following in, to head the rebound into an empty net and create a cushion that they would not give up.
Bramall Lane run ends
Sheffield United look unlikely to mount a late promotion challenge
