Liverpool loanee lives up to Middlesbrough billing but other attacking change just as crucial
Ben Doak's impressive full debut inspired Middlesbrough to a needed victory over Stoke City.
The Liverpool loanee got the ball rolling for Michael Carrick's side as they won 2-0, with academy graduate star Hayden Hackney netting an important second for Boro to kill the game off. Here are the game's key conclusions at a glance.
The game-changing moment
It would come pretty early in the game as Boro grew in confidence and Ben Doak began to really have his impact. Stoke City actually started well and forced an early save out of Seny Dieng. The visitors showed far more ambition than most who've so far visited the Riverside. As is often the case, that actually helped Boro.
Looking to play in a very similar way to Boro, left-back Eric Bocat was advancing aggressively down Boro's right channel. But that also opened space up for Boro and they used it effectively. Working out fairly quickly that Doak had the beating of Bocat, Boro looked to get the ball out to the Liverpool young star as quickly as possible. Having won that one-on-one duel a couple of times, Bocat's adventurous runs got fewer and fewer as Boro began to get a foothold in the game before Doak scored the all-important opening goal.
READ MORE: Middlesbrough player ratings vs Stoke City as 'electric' Boro star inspires victory
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Boro's best player
One of the biggest positives of this Boro win is that it was such a good positive all-round performance. But if you were to pick one man of the match it would have to be Doak. Handed his first Boro start after his two recent positive cameos from the bench, the 18-year-old was electric on the wing, beating his man with a constant positive attitude and thrilling pace.
As Carrick noted after, he could have easily ended the game with more than the one goal he got, with his finishing when cutting in onto his left poor in this one - albeit that just being a sign that he is still a raw teenager with limited experience and developing to do. Most importantly, he made an incredible impact and showed excellent variety to his end product as he lived up to his early billing after joining on loan, with head of recruitment Chris Jones christening him a 'potential game-changer'.
The positive
As noted above, as inspiring as Doak was to Boro's win, this was a performance built around the whole team having good days - a complete contrast to last weekend at Sunderland when far too many had off-days. Out of possession, despite losing Matt Clarke, they worked so hard and limited Stoke to very little throughout.
It's in their attack, particularly with the recent context of their misfiring, that the biggest positives were to be found, however. And in that sense, Doak's inclusion in the starting line-up wasn't the only Carrick decision to have a really positive impact.
Riley McGree returning might have been somewhat enforced after Tommy Conway's injury, but it was nevertheless so useful for Boro. The Australian proved why he remains one of Boro's best, particularly for that left-sided forward role, which he made his own early in Carrick's tenure.
He added a better balance to Boro both in and out of possession, which in turn helped Neto Borges have a much better game too. McGree is so clever with his movement and ability to make things happen with the ball in intricate areas and there was a lot of that on show in this one. Not afraid to have a shot, that led to the first goal, with Boro at times recently guilty of trying to walk the ball in and score the perfect goal.
McGree's return also paved the way for Finn Azaz to move back to the central role behind the striker and it was no coincidence that he too had a positive performance picking up pockets of space and moving the ball on well. That was after three dipped performances after moving out to play the McGree role.
The negative
Middlesbrough can't seem to turn their luck on injuries. It was quite literally one step forward, two steps back for the Stoke game, as Rav van den Berg finally returned to the squad but only as Boro were losing both Matt Clarke and Tommy Conway to injury.
Pre-match rumours suggested Conway's injury was a serious one, but the news from the Boro boss post-match was better than expected at least. Neither of the pair are believed to have suffered serious injuries, with both potentially pushing to return on Tuesday evening against West Brom. That they coped so well with the loss of two key players though is a testament to both the group's resolve, and also their strength in depth.
The verdict
All in all, it was good team performance from Boro - not just a good result, but a confidence-boosting performance to boot. With Doak, McGree and Azaz all positive and Latte Lath doing everything he could to help the cause beyond actually netting one himself, Carrick has some big decisions to make with regard to the West Brom trip on Tuesday evening. He has options though, and that's not to be sniffed at.
This was a good day for Boro and is hopefully something they can now kick on from, albeit with two tough away games now following next week. This was good, but producing it consistently is now the key to their promotion hopes.