Agnew delighted for Bamford despite Boro defeat

Middlesbrough’s home Premier League campaign may have ended with a whimper, but head coach Steve Agnew insisted there was at least one ray of sunshine for his side in Patrick Bamford.

Boro had already been relegated even before Southampton came to town on Saturday, with their misery compounded with a 2-1 defeat at the Riverside Stadium.

That means at least half of their top-flight matches will be defeats, despite Bamford finding the net in the closing stages in the North East.

That was the striker’s first goal in a season blighted by injuries, returning to Teesside having originally started the campaign with Premier League rivals Burnley.

And Agnew believes a goal was nothing less than the 23-year-old deserved, hopeful he can put a turbulent period behind him over the summer.

(Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

“I’m really pleased for Patrick because it’s been a frustrating 18 months for him,” Agnew said.

“He’s a real talent. It’s taken him a while to get up to speed but he deserves his chance and he’s taken it.

“It was a difficult afternoon, emotionally we’re all disappointed.

“It was a game we wanted to win, we wanted to give something back to the fans after what’s been a hard season.

“Again, we made it difficult for ourselves. We eventually clawed our way back in but we couldn’t get the result we wanted.”