Jose Mourinho in the stands as Kenneth Omeruo’s Middlesbrough move closer to Wembley

Brentford 1 Middlebrough 2

Championship Play off 1st leg

Venue: Griffin Park

Kenneth Omeruo was an unused
substitute as Middlesbrough took a giant step towards playing in the Premier
League next season when they ran out 1-2 winners in the first leg of the Championship play-off semi finals at Griffin Park. Aitor Karanka’s side arrived from Spain a day
before the match where they had gone for warm weather training.

The trip to Spain seems to
have done wonders for the Teesiders as Jelle Vossen gave them the lead in the
26 minute. Following the goal, Boro set out their stalls to frustrate Brentford
at Griffin Park, defending deep to deny the home
side space to exploit. Boro could have added to their lead shortly after
opening the scoring, but they failed to increase their advantage before half
time.

Brentford who had in their starting
eleven Nigerian born right back and winger Moses Odubajo came out firing on all
cylinders as they dominated possession and pelted the Middlesbrough
goal in the early minutes when play resumed. But yet nothing came out of the
pressure that was being built by Mark Warburton’s team. It finally took a
mistake from Middlesbrough’s goalkeeper,
Dimitrios Konstantopoulous for Brentford to get an equaliser. In 54 minute, Andre
Gray robbed the Boro goalkeeper in the penalty box, and he had the simple task
of putting the ball into an unguarded net to make it 1-1

Afterwards, it was game on as
Brentford urged on by the 11,000 capacity crowd sought to get the victory that
they needed ahead of the second leg at the Riverside
stadium. After series of saves from Middlesbrough goalkeeper following his
earlier mistake, Aitor Karanka’s side had the last laugh as substitute and
Venezuelan defender, Fernando Amorebieta scored a 93 minute goal from a corner
to win the match for Boro as they bid to return to the Premier League for the
first time since 2009.

The match capped the second time
that Middlesbrough had beaten Brentford at Griffin Park
this season. They had the better of Warburton’s team in January winning 0-1.

Brentford now have to win at
Middlesbrough’s Riverside stadium if they are
to keep their hopes alive of returning to the top flight for the first time
since 1947.

While for Kenneth Omeruo and his
Middlesbrough team, they are just one match away from the Championship play-off final
at Wembley against either Ipswich or Norwich.

The second leg of the tie comes up
next week Friday.

In the crowd at Griffin Park
was Chelsea
manager Jose Mourinho. Middlesbrough’s manager
Aitor Karanka was his assistant at Real Madrid in his three year stay in the
Spanish capital.

Photo Credit: Teesside Gazette