Newport Co – Middlesbrough SOCCER PICKS
Tuesday, at 19:45, Newport and Middlesbrough meet in the retreat of the England Cup tour 4 after they drew on Riverside Stadium, score 1-1. The decisive match will take place on the Leicester arena that was eliminated in the previous phase and Tony Pulis’s team has to seriously address the Wales move.
Newport has hardly touched the championship with the Cup and the Black and White team has only one victory in the last 5 official matches. Sure, success has been achieved with Exeter, a top league team in the League Two, and Newport’s defensive has yielded good performance lately. In the last round of the championship, however, Newport succumbed to the move from Grimsby, pointing out that he was more focused on Middlesbrough’s Tuesday visit.
By comparison, Boro has a much more valuable lot at his disposal and should be imposing on the field. Tony Pulis’s team has a special style in the Championship, where they have real chances for promotion in the Premier League: solid defense, supernumerary attacks, and many side-end rebels – the recipe that favored this season. Middlesbrough won an important derby on WBA’s ground (3-2, “double” Assombalonga), red-white with 12 goals scored in the last 5 official games. They received a goal in 4 of the previous 5 disputes, which is not a common feature for clubs Pulis.
It is certain that Middlesbrough will no longer underestimate his opponent as he did in the tour. We do not know how much Boro is interested in a long run in the English Cup, given that the promotion is much higher. But we expect Pulis to use a very competitive first “11” in Newport, after the Welsh have surprisingly drawn in the tour. Boro opened the score through Daniel Ayala (51), but Dolan equaled the last phase of the overtime, in a game dominated only partially by Middlesbrough (58% possession). The hosts had 19 sutures at the gate, compared to Newport’s 17th, but the guests had more executions (5 to 4).
