Middlesbrough’s victory over Reading at the Riverside took Boro within touching distance of the play-offs. They remain in ninth place, but are now only four points from sixth.
Adama Traore’s brace secured all three points on Saturday, with Chris Martin providing the hope of a comeback for the Royals.
Here are five things we learned from the win:
Adama Traore’s final product
A lot has been made of Adama Traore’s final ball. The young Spaniard had only one assist to his name before the start of this season, setting up Alvaro Negredo’s opening goal against Hull City in the Premier League.
However, Traore has gone on to provide three assists, and score three goals this season already, with two coming against Reading last weekend.
Three managers have tried to get the best out of the wide-man and have somewhat failed to do so. Aitor Karanka, Steve Agnew and Garry Monk all persisted with Adama in the hope he would produce the goods. But he needed work on the training ground and the experienced head of Tony Pulis seems to have done the trick.
His goals weren’t lucky on Saturday either, with both goals his own making. Both strikes came from similar difficult angles, and were strikes that Vito Mannone had little chance of saving.
