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Steve Bruce will always look back on the first half of 2018 as one of the unhappiest chapters in his personal life but, professionally at least, things are looking up a little. Aston Villa’s manager is grieving following the death of his father in February and his mother at the start of this month, yet remains intensely committed to achieving a promotion, the fifth of his managerial career, that he had until recently hoped to celebrate with them.
Mile Jedinak’s first-half header from a quickly taken corner places Bruce well on course to fulfil that hope, leaving Tony Pulis’s Middlesbrough with it all to do in the second leg at Villa Park on Tuesday night.
Under Pulis’s tutelage Boro have increasingly prided themselves on their proficiency at defending dead balls, so it must have hurt when they swiftly fell behind to the simplest of set-piece goals.
It began Albert Adomah, a Riverside old boy, winning a corner that was dispatched by Jack Grealish. Some slapdash marking, most notably the lack of anyone guarding the far post, enabled Jedinak to direct an angled header into the back of the net with Darren Randolph wrong-footed. As Villa fans celebrated manically, Bruce looked as if he could hardly believe his luck and Pulis’s players seemed downright stunned.
Boro took a little while to recover from the shock and they were fortunate not to fall further behind when Robert Snodgrass out-jumped George Friend to connect with an Adomah cross and head it fractionally over the bar.
Villa’s playmaker Jack Grealish was being permitted far too much room in midfield for Pulis’s liking but, little by little, Muhamed Besic, Adama Traoré and company began pulling themselves together and gradually dragged Boro back into the game.
So much so that Britt Assombalonga, controversially preferred to Patrick Bamford as the home side’s lone striker, had three decent first-half chances. While the first two were shot narrowly off target, the third, created by Traoré, saw Assombalonga dodge John Terry before heading straight at Sam Johnstone when he really should have scored.
Shortly afterwards, Pulis had Randolph to thank for somehow finger-tipping Snodgrass’s subtle curler from outside the area onto a post. If it was a glorious drop of the shoulder and an accomplished shot on the winger’s part, the save was even better.
Like Snodgrass, Traoré has frequently raised the Championship tone this season but although at times the jet-heeled winger clearly had the beating of Alan Hutton, deputising for the hamstrung Neil Taylor at left-back, he was too often snatching at the ball. Understandably keen to impress against Villa, the club that imported him from Barcelona but swiftly part-exchanged him for Adomah, some wild shots and miscued passes indicated that Traoré was perhaps trying too hard.
Traoré likes to alternate flanks within games but when, at the start of the second half, he seemed to have made a permanent switch to the left wing and be making a concerted attempt to ruffle Villa’s right-back, Ahmed Elmohamady, Bruce ordered Hutton to swap sides with the Egyptian.
With Villa’s manager determined not to be outwitted by Pulis, the latter was forced into a personnel shift when Dani Ayala, a key figure at centre-half, hobbled off after injuring his knee. With Fábio coming on at right-back, Ryan Shotton shifted into the heart of the home defence.
By now Boro were enjoying plenty of possession without ever looking overlyhugely threatening, but they remained vulnerable to visiting counterattacks.
Pulis needed to recalibrate the power balance and duly introduced Bamford. It re-energised the crowd but, although Villa dropped dangerously deep at times, the taut expression fixed on Steve Gibson’s face as Boro’s owner sat, arms folded, in the directors box emphasised the sense that semi-final was slipping out of the Teessiders’ grasp.
Gibson began this season by saying that his club would endeavour to “smash the Championship” but doing so has proved infinitely harder than he envisaged. Given that the away goals rule does not apply in the play-offs a 1-0 first-leg deficit does not represent a total disaster for Boro ahead of the return in Birmingham - but judging by the disappointment etched on the faces of Pulis’s players it clearly felt like it.
The slate grey cloud shrouding the Cleveland Hills, normally clearly visible from the main stand, seemed to symbolise the sense of gloom enveloping the Riverside.
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Former Premier League sides face off on Teesside as Aston Villa head to the north east to face Middlesbrough in the Championship play-off semi-final.
Both sides were hoping for automatic promotion at the beginning of the campaign, both having spent heavily last summer.
But 'Boro started the season in inconsistent fashion, ultimately costing Garry Monk his job and seeing Steve Gibson bring in Tony Pulis following his exit from West Brom.
Villa chiefs stuck with Steve Bruce after their early season struggles, and were rewarded with a run to challenge for the top two - albeit ultimately coming up short.
Can either take charge of this semi-final in the first leg? Or will it be a tight, tense affair at the Riverside Stadium?
Keep up with all the action thanks to our friends at the Birmingham Mail, below...
Middlesbrough XI: Randolph, Shotton, Ayala, Gibson, Friend, Clayton, Besic, Howson, Traore, Downing, Assombalonga
Aston Villa XI: Johnstone, Elmohamady, Chester, Terry, Hutton, Snodgrass, Hourihane, Jedinak, Adomah, Grealish, Grabban
