Isaiah Jones ended a run of seven matches without a goal by scoring twice to help Middlesbrough to a 4-0 win over Preston at the Riverside.
North End looked like a team that has won just two of their last 11 matches rather than one that started the night sixth in the Sky Bet Championship, as Middlesbrough cruised into a three-goal lead at the break.
Jones’ fourth and fifth goals of the season in the 16th and 37th minutes sandwiched Rav van den Berg’s first senior goal in the 26th minute to put Michael Carrick’s side well on track for their biggest home win of the season so far.
And deep in stoppage-time summer signing Alex Bangura cut inside his man to curl in the fourth to cap a miserable night for the visitors.
Despite losing Dael Fry at the heart of the defence, Boro were untroubled largely throughout the first half. The man who replaced him in the middle did the job at both ends.
Van den Berg, who has played right-back following his arrival from FC Zwolle, had been largely untested but was a calming influence on the ball in the opening exchanges.
That helped to lay the foundations for the opener. His central defensive partner Paddy McNair was involved in the move along with Jonny Howson and Dan Barlaser before Matt Crooks received possession 22 yards from goal. Rather than shoot, Crooks rolled a pass into the path of Jones for him to control and finish calmly at a time when the game was in need of some goalmouth quality.
It was 2-0 10 minutes later. Van den Berg coasted in at the back to meet Barlaser’s corner and, despite failing to head, the ball bounced off the defender’s chest and beat goalkeeper Freddie Woodman once more.
After a couple of tame Preston attempts to close the deficit, Middlesbrough extended their advantage eight minutes before half-time.
This time Morgan Rogers played in Jones and the winger lifted a lovely finish above and beyond Woodman.
Woodman had to make two big saves before the break to prevent Jones from grabbing a first half hat-trick and stop Rogers finding the target.
Preston boss Ryan Lowe’s frustrations were clear. He took Milutin Osmajic and Will Keane off and replaced them with Ched Evans and Calvin Ramsey at the start of the second half in a bid to make a fight of it.
But Boro, who climb to ninth with this victory, forced Woodman into another strong save to his left after a good move created an opening for Rogers.
The keeper also saved from Emmanuel Latte Lath before Bangura completed the scoring in the fourth minute of added time to wrap up a routine win for Boro.
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Campbell gives Sheffield United victory in Steel City derby, Rodriguez strikes late for Burnley
Sheffield United joined leaders Sunderland at the top of the Championship table after a hard-fought 1-0 win against local rivals Sheffield Wednesday.
After a goalless first half, Tyrese Campbell latched onto a pass from Callum O'Hare and slotted past Wednesday goalkeeper James Beadle for the winner five minutes into the second period.
This was the Blades' sixth consecutive clean sheet at Bramall Lane and their fourth straight win home or away, and sees them go level with Sunderland on 31 points from 15 matches.
Meanwhile, Burnley are four points behind the top two after they snatched a last-gasp 1-0 victory against visitors Swansea City.
Jay Rodriguez's stoppage-time penalty secured the points for the Clarets at Turf Moor, ending their four-match winless run and climbing to fourth in the table.
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