Middlesbrough 1 Sunderland 1: Nazariy Rusyn rescues Riverside point after flat second half
Nazariy Rusyn came off the bench to rescue a point for Sunderland against Middlesbrough in the 153rd meeting between Tees and Wear as Michael Beale’s side missed out on the opportunity to move back into the top-six in the Championship table.
Rusyn’s ambitious effort cancelled out Marcus Forss’ opener on the hour as Michael Carrick’s side had threatened to complete a double over Sunderland on the back of their 4-0 success at the Stadium of Light earlier in the season.
Rusyn’s goal seven minutes from time came courtesy of a swift counter-attack involving Sunderland’s talisman Jack Clarke who added another assist to his name – the Ukrainian’s strike beating Boro goalkeeper Tom Glover at his near post as Beale’s side then pressed for a winner which would not come.
We Are Sunderland looks back at some of the key points from the Riverside:
Sunderland find balance with Leo Hjelde
Sunderland’s January transfer business may not have covered all bases when it comes to the collective feeling that both a centre-forward and a defensive midfielder were again left off the incoming list – but there was one area which became particularly prevalent at full-back given the injuries Beale has had to deal with.
Leo Hjelde’s arrival from Leeds United was timely in that sense, with Niall Huggins, Dennis Cirkin and Aji Alese all in the treatment room. The Norwegian under-21 international comes with plenty of pedigree having been signed by the likes of Rosenborg, Celtic and Leeds already in his career at just 20-years-old, but the debate as to where his best position is will remain open as to whether he is a left-sided centre-back or a full-back. In the short-term, Hjelde will be Sunderland’s left-back and he was thrown straight in by Beale for a debut at the Riverside – an occasion which certainly felt as though it could shape him should it go well.
“We’ve had a big issue on the left side of defence," Beale told We Are Sunderland heading into the game. "Trai has gone over there, and Jenson (Seelt) has come in at right-back, and both of them have done really well, but you’d love to have balance. We had it for a period of time when Aji was back fit, but then we lost it after a couple of games."
Unlike their previous away trips to Hull City and Ipswich Town, Sunderland went man for man with a 4-3-3, with both Trai Hume and Hjelde not afraid to get forward from full-back when they had possession. The natural balance showed from the outset with Sunderland threatening down the right, with Hume testing Glover from range.
And within five minutes you could see the benefit of having a left-footer on the left side to tandem with Clarke after recent weeks of Hume covering on that side of the field as a right-footer. Hjelde provided a smart early overlap for Clarke to attack former Leeds team-mate Luke Ayling before Dael Fry’s recovering tackle.
A notable tweak from Beale came from goal-kicks. Hjelde was pushed high into midfield, away from the left-hand side, Dan Neil rotating out to the left. The new arrival showed moments of good composure with the ball at his feet, with Sunderland getting joy in playing through the lines.
Hjelde become a bit of a focus, good and bad, in the first half. The defender was a target for an early Clarke corner where his run to the near post threatened Middlesbrough before a lack of conviction in the finish. Hjelde’s tendency to drift inside from the left-back area both in and out of possession allowed Sunderland to create one or two overloads in midfield but also caused them issues defensively when he lost the ball – Forss and Hayden Hackney each forcing turnovers on the Norwegian before sliding passes into Sam Greenwood who threatened throughout the first half.
The home side had strong appeals for a penalty on Hjelde when Hackney stabbed a ball into the area – one which could have gone either way before Hjelde then provided a key block to deny Hackney from a Middlesbrough counter-attack after Abdoullah Ba’s gilt-edged opportunity was cleared from the line by Rav van den Berg.
Hjelde had 25 touches in the first half, seven of which came in the opposition half which did aid Clarke at times. The second half, however, saw Hjelde retreat more in his advances as Sunderland, as a whole, sat back with Middlesbrough raising their intensity.
Carrick’s side dominated for large parts of the second 45 before making the breakthrough from Forss’ strike. Hjelde had initially done well to clear Sunderland’s lines in-between Greenwood and Forss before Greenwood earned a free kick from Neil which led to the opening goal.
Ayling’s advances in the second half contributed to Hjelde’s reluctance to commit forward as much until the final 10 minutes when Beale’s side were chasing an equaliser where the 20-year-old began overlapping Clarke once more.
Despite one or two shaky moments defensively, Hjelde lived up to that ball-playing tag he mentioned in his first interview with the club on arrival, whilst also producing a number of big blocks at the other end of the pitch in what was a decent debut in a potentially tricky environment on Teesside.
Squandering golden opportunities
For all the talk about problems in front of goal for Sunderland, they had some big opportunities to find the back of the net and indeed win the game here at the Riverside.
Prior to the game, Kristjaan Speakman had rebuffed the claim Sunderland weren’t creative enough in the final third, while Beale called on his squad to step up to the plate.
“I think sometimes being a striker for Sunderland is difficult; do we cross the ball enough? Do we, at times, try to score the perfect goal with a lot of intricate play?” Beale said. “It’s important we feed the No.9, regardless of who is in there and who’s got the shirt.”
Although Ba, Hume and Clarke forced Glover into saves in the opening 45 minutes, there was still a lack of bodies around Mason Burstow - who was rewarded for his first goal for the club against Stoke City with another start.
Burstow was a willing runner off the ball, and there was a concerted effort to put more balls into the box in the opening stages of the game, particularly from the right, but there wasn't anything clear-cut for the on loan Chelsea man. Burstow almost turned provider when threading an excellent ball through Middlesbrough’s defence for Ba who skipped inside of Lukas Engel before firing into the side netting.
The biggest chance of the first half, again, fell to Ba – with the Frenchman likely to be wondering how he failed to open the scoring. Neil capitalised on a mistake from Middlesbrough in trying to play out from the back – a theme which translated over from their recent League Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea, to find Jobe Bellingham who was able to ride a number of challenges in the area before picking out Clarke inside the six-yard box. Clarke was unable to get a shot away but did extremely well to take out two defenders as well as Glover in goal by teeing up Ba who had, seemingly, the simple task of tapping into an empty net only for the 20-year-old to be denied by van den Berg on the line.
It felt like a huge moment in the game and an opportunity Sunderland may live to regret with Ba lacking the conviction of his strike a week ago in the win over Stoke.
The second-half then brought a swing in momentum as the hosts turned the screw. That being said, there was still some good fortune with Boro’s opener, both in the awarding of the free kick and how the ball fell to Forss.
Neil felt aggrieved the decision to award a free kick went against him before a training ground routine involving Hackney and Greenwood saw the former academy striker try his luck from distance, only for his strike to cannon into the path of Forss.
But the Finn still had plenty to do as he expertly took the ball out of the air with his first touch before swivelling and arrowing a superb volley beyond Anthony Patterson.
At that stage, it looked as though the hosts would go on an exert their dominance with Sunderland forced to repel wave after wave of attack. A stoppage in play did help break that momentum for Sunderland as Beale gathered his troops before, out of nothing, they were able to find what seemed an unlikely equaliser.
Sunderland then had opportunities to go on and win it, Clarke instrumental in their late flurry – particularly when almost forcing substitute Luke Thomas into an own goal with a dangerous low cross into the box.
“No, I don’t count us as fortunate to take anything away from the game because in the first half we missed an unbelievable opportunity to go in front – I thought the first half performance was really strong,” said Beale.
“Middlesbrough got their tails up in the second half but our reaction was really good. We scored and then towards the end I think there was one team who were more dangerous.”
Sunderland will take their point, but they were clinical in their win over Stoke a week ago whereas here they left a lot to be desired as a balance continues to escape them.
Sunderland’s midfield rotations
Like last week against Stoke, Sunderland’s midfield three impressed, bar 30 minutes of the second-half where the entire XI was below par, with Neil once again the deeper of the trio, and Pierre Ekwah and Jobe on either side.
An area of the pitch that felt disjointed when Beale first arrived, played with a lot more fluidity, particularly in the opening 45 minutes. Both Jobe and Ekwah found pockets of space in midfield areas, having pressed high, bypassing Middlesbrough’s midfield and they were able to get the ball into their danger men in the final third relatively unchecked.
The link-up between Ekwah and Ba down Sunderland’s right was particularly pleasing, with their best work coming down that side of the pitch. The latter of the two had a number of good opportunities in front of goal, his best just before the half-time interval cleared off the line.
Sunderland’s midfield three also had good structure to it in possession, but there will be some concern the ease with which the home side were able to engineer balls through the centre of the field from both Hackney and Finn Azaz into the channel of either centre-back Dan Ballard or Luke O’Nien with Greenwood’s intelligent runs going untracked.
Middlesbrough were then able to really take a grip in that area of the field after the break with Sunderland untidy in possession and their progressive passes into Middlesbrough’s half evidently dropping off. Carrick’s instructions to increase the intensity caused Beale’s side a number of issues with Sunderland's second half showing way off where it needed to be before the shift in momentum in the final 10 minutes of the game.
Greenwood impresses against old club again as Clarke continues to tear apart
Carrick made three changes to his starting line-up, one of which saw the return of Sunderland academy graduate, Greenwood.
The young forward enjoyed a memorable start at the Stadium of Light in the reverse fixture when opening the scoring against his boyhood club in what resembled a real purple patch in his Middlesbrough career. Part of Carrick’s decision to start him here, you wonder, may had been drawn by the inspiration of his performance from that game in October – and he didn’t disappoint.
Greenwood gave both Ballard and O’Nien a difficult afternoon at times with his intelligent off-the-ball movement into the half spaces. It left things difficult for Beale’s defensive line as to who should pick him up – Hume making an important intervention early in the game after Greenwood had slipped in behind Ballard.
It was a run which he tried time and time again throughout the game, with the service from Hackney and Azaz threatening Sunderland’s higher line. It felt as though Sunderland were not heeding the warning with Greenwood continuing to go close after the break with a number of runs – the linesman’s flag helping Sunderland out on more than one occasion.
Greenwood flashed wide midway through the second half from an excellent ball from the channel by Engel before he was substituted with a slight knock. It was a reprieve for Sunderland – despite being a goal down in the final quarter of the game.
It was a reprieve Middlesbrough didn’t get at the other end, however, as Clarke produced another fine display. In recent fixtures against Middlesbrough, Clarke has found things tough up against Isaiah Jones who has given him a run for his money both in attack and defence – but with Jones missing out through injury, Clarke was able to pit his wits against a man he knows from Leeds in Ayling.
Earlier in the game it was evident Clarke had the beating of Ayling with Sunderland testing that side of the field on a number of occasions and Clarke seeing some joy with his progressive carries and dribbles into the area.
Clarke, unsurprisingly, was at the top of the list for most dribbles in the game as he almost caught Glover out at his near post in the opening quarter-of-an-hour. His awareness to tee up Ba for what should have been the opening goal displayed how his all-round his game continues to mature before his impact in the final 15 minutes in wrestling Sunderland back into the contest cannot be ignored.
At times it felt as though it was Clarke on his own as he attacked down the left, winning a series of free kicks. And it was from one of those free kicks where Ballard almost levelled with a glancing header before he then picked out Rusyn on the break. Clarke’s touch inside to Neil was pinpoint as he knew he had the space in behind his marker to attack should the return from Neil be executed well enough – which it was.
The winger skipped inside before finding Rusyn who took aim to fire Sunderland level.
Rusyn saves Sunderland but barren Riverside run continues
Burstow’s struggles will be emphasised by Rusyn’s impact with this his second goal for the club since moving to Wearside in the summer.
Where Burstow was unable to really get a sight of goal during his time on the field, Rusyn took aim with his only sight – despite the better option seemingly being to cross in the middle. Rusyn did well to peel off the shoulder of Thomas which left him in acres of space in the right-forward area. Clarke’s ball was excellent, but Rusyn’s touch did not allow him to set himself as the ball bounced up in the air. Rather than take another touch, however, Rusyn tried his luck and caught Glover out at his near post to equalise.
“It goes in and people will point at the goalie but in the first half someone on the line makes an incredible stop that’s a certain goal. So if you look at it like that, although Michael and the goalkeeper might be disappointed, over the course of the game I think we were more than worthy of our point being the away team,” said Beale.
Rusyn added a little bit of energy in the closing stages and ignited supporters instantly when hassling Ayling in front of the 2,000 travelling fans as the pendulum may now swing back in his favour when it comes to the continuous striker conundrum on Wearside.
The point is welcome for Beale, not least that it averts criticism returning to his door for the time-being, but it fails to snap what is an ever-growing unwanted record for Sunderland on Teesside. Although Sunderland enjoyed FA Cup success at the Riverside in 2012 – you have to go back to 2005 for the last time they brought three points back up the A19 with them after goals from Tommy Miller and Julio Arca sealed a 2-0 win in the Premier League.
That victory in the FA Cup in 2012 – the last time Sunderland won on Teesside and, prior to Rusyn’s strike here, the last time they scored a goal against Middlesbrough away from home. There will be some solace that Sunderland's run of defeats in this particular part of the region has come to an end, but a win remains rare when Sunderland head to Teesside.
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