ILL WARNOCK GETS A TONIC

Boro boss ‘delighted’ as Cherries are denied

- Chris Dunlavy

BATTLING Middlesbrough served absent boss Neil Warnock the perfect tonic as Marcus Browne’s late equalizer rescued a richly deserved point at the Riverside.

Diagnosed with Covid-19 after falling ill in midweek, the 71-year-old was forced to watch from his sickbed.

But his spirits will certainly have been lifted by a dominant display that was eventually rewarded when substitute Browne nodded home his first Boro goal to cancel out Dominic Solanke’s cheeky opener.

“Neil’s just spoken to the boys from home and he’s very happy, very proud,” said Middlesbrough No.2 Kevin Blackwell.

“So he should be, because I thought we were excellent today. We created far more than an established Premier League team and, on another day, could have won the game.”

Warnock – who also conducted a pre-match team talk – may have been elsewhere, but Boro’s performance was steeped in the Yorkshireman’s DNA.

Aggressive. Offensive. Spiky and energetic. Boro harried the Cherries to distraction and hit the final third with clockwork efficiency.