Michael Carrick has saluted his injury-hit squad for delivering Middlesbrough’s biggest home win of the season against an out-of-sorts Preston.
The Lilywhites, who started the evening sixth, had no answer to Boro’s first half display that earned them a three-goal advantage at the break.
Preston struggled to make an impact in the final third and were cut open too easily by a home side, who won 4-0 and closed the gap to the Sky Bet Championship play-off zone to three points.
Middlesbrough winger Isaiah Jones’ calmly-taken double in the 16th and 37th minutes sandwiched Rav van den Berg’s first senior goal in the 26th minute after he scored from a corner.
Even though the points had already been secured at half-time, Middlesbrough full-back Alex Bangura curled in from just inside the area to make it 4-0 in the fourth minute of added-time at the end of the contest.
And Carrick, whose side head to fourth-placed Leeds on Saturday, said: “We played well in spells, that’s football. Performance-wise we have played better in some games, but goals at both ends tell the story.
“We were ruthless, we created and defended very well in terms of limiting them. It was a new back four who hadn’t played together before, they played well.
“We will definitely take 4-0. I can’t fault the boys, sometimes it will work and sometimes it might go against us.
“I was confident going into the game, there was good balance even if it was quite new in terms of the changes. I thought we were in good shape and that proved to be the case.
“We lost Dael Fry and Hayden Hackney (groin and hamstring injuries) from Saturday, it tends to be the way we are going. We had eight senior players out tonight.
“That’s why the squad is vital and we can’t make excuses. The boys cracked on and we are now preparing for Saturday.”
Preston have now won just two of their last 11 matches having started the season with six wins from the opening seven fixtures.
Boss Ryan Lowe, whose side did not record a shot on target until the final 20 minutes, said: “I’m angry, disappointed, but they are my group of players, win, lose or draw.
“There were harsh words in the dressing room. They have given us some fantastic football, but when we went one down there was fear that set in.
“The first half performance was nowhere near the levels we expect. If we want to keep being a mid-table team those are mid-table performances, but we don’t want to be that team.
“The lads know that the first half was nowhere near the levels we require.
“We came here with full belief we could challenge. Boro are not the formidable side from last season, even though they still have good players and a fantastic coach, but I expect us to be better.
“I will stick with the players. They know it is not good enough. We have let everyone down and what we have to do now is put it right as quickly as we can.
“I will give them the benefit of the doubt tonight, but if we don’t get it right then we will flip it around because we want to keep progressing. The first 45 minutes was not acceptable.”
Saudi Pro League: Mahrez and Firmino on target as Al-Ahli tighten grip on third place
Riyad Mahrez and Roberto Firmino were both on target as Al-Ahli tightened their grip on third place in the Saudi Pro League table with a 4-1 win over Damac on Thursday.
Matthias Jaissle's team were four goals up within just 25 minutes as Damac folded, Ziyad Al Johani and Feras Al Brikan netting their first two before Franck Kessie was felled by Dhari Al Anazi for a penalty, converted by Mahrez.
Firmino then tapped home a fourth after being teed up by former Newcastle United winger Allan Saint-Maximin on the break, but Al-Ahli took their foot off the gas from there, Domagoj Antolic's second-half consolation rounding off the scoring.
Elsewhere, 10-man Al-Riyadh scored two stoppage-time draws to earn a dramatic 2-2 draw with Al-Fateh in Al-Mubarraz.
Goals from Djaniny and former Columbus Crew star Lucas Zelarayan put Slaven Bilic's hosts on the brink of victory, with Al-Riyadh playing almost half the game a player down after Khalid Al Shuwayyi's 54th-minute red card.
An astonishing collapse denied them, however, with Mohammed Al Shwirekh halving the arrears one minute into stoppage time before Didier Ndong headed in a left-wing cross three minutes later.
Thursday's other game saw Al-Hazm and Al-Akhdoud play out a goalless draw, keeping the hosts bottom of the table while Al-Akhdoud inched two points clear of the relegation zone.
Will Still leaves Reims job with immediate effect
Will Still has left his role as Reims head coach with immediate effect, the Ligue 1 club announced on Thursday.
Still took over as Reims boss – initially on an interim basis – after Oscar Garcia was sacked in October 2022 and went unbeaten through his first 19 league games at the helm.
The 31-year-old was eventually handed the role on a permanent basis and led Reims to an 11th-placed finish in Ligue 1 in 2022-23, with his lack of a UEFA Pro Licence causing the club to be fined €25,000 per match until he began the course.
Reims are currently 11th in Ligue 1 again, though they are winless in their last five games and have lost each of their last three.
In a statement, the club said: "Following a meeting this morning between president Jean-Pierre Caillot, general manager Mathieu Lacour and head coach Will Still, it was mutually agreed that the two parties would not continue the sporting adventure together next season.
"In order to allow Reims to confidently look forward to the next year, it was also decided that Will Still and his deputy Nicolas Still would step down from their respective functions as of today."
Still was linked with the Sunderland job earlier this season and said in February that he would be open to joining an "ambitious" Championship club.
Coventry City 1-2 Ipswich Town: Burgess puts Tractor Boys on brink of promotion
Ipswich Town took a huge step to Premier League promotion after Cameron Burgess snatched a second-half winner in Tuesday's 2-1 victory over Coventry City.
Kieran McKenna's side require just one point from their final Championship game against League One-bound Huddersfield Town to go up, after a decisive victory at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Kieffer Moore blasted in an eighth-minute opener for the visitors after Wes Burns' crafty cutback pass, easing the pressure on Ipswich and dampening the top-two hopes of third-placed Leeds United.
Haji Wright levelled in the second half, only for Burgess to squeeze a winning goal past Bradley Collins five minutes later, putting Ipswich on the brink of top-flight football for the first time since their relegation in 2002.
A draw against Huddersfield, who are 23rd and three points adrift of safety, would secure promotion at Portman Road, marking just the fourth instance of back-to-back promotions in the Premier League era.
Having managed to climb out of League One, McKenna's entertaining side would join Watford, rivals Norwich City and Southampton as the only sides to achieve the feat.
Data Debrief: Ipswich end winless run at perfect time
Prior to this game, only five teams had won fewer points in the Championship than Ipswich's six since the beginning of April (W1 D3 L1).
Yet McKenna's men refused to let their top-flight push derail as the Tractor Boys ended a four-game winless run to move within touching distance of history.
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