Reporting note: this article draws on Sky Sports; LodiScore provides the summary and editorial framing.
Middlesbrough Bolton result? A 5-1 away thumping, and Boro are top of the Sky Bet Championship. Will Lankshear scored twice, Aidan Morris and Amario Cozier-Duberry got one each, and Lewis Brunt put through his own goal. By the 39th minute it was 3-0. Game over, basically.
Middlesbrough Bolton result: the first-half blitz
You could see it coming from the off. Boro had a corner inside the first minute and their first chance inside two. Kim Hellberg's side were out to get the business done early, and Bolton had no answer to the tempo.
On 13 minutes the opener arrived. Cozier-Duberry — a former Bolton loanee, of course — squared for Morris to sweep in. Nice finish, nicer build-up, and the away end was up.
The shots kept flowing. Gavin Bazunu made three excellent saves in quick succession, but there's only so much a goalkeeper can do when the ball keeps coming back. Just after the half-hour, Lankshear made it two after some exquisite teamwork in the build-up.
Then, on 39 minutes, Adilson Malanda rose to meet a corner from the right and headed the ball onto the unfortunate Brunt, who could do nothing to stop it crossing the line. Own goal, 3-0. Tough school, this league.
Will Lankshear's numbers keep climbing
Two more goals for Lankshear takes him to 11 in the league and 13 in all competitions. That is an electric start to life in a Boro shirt, and it's exactly the return that drags a team up a table.
His second of the night was Boro's fifth, rolled in from Riley McGree's unselfish square ball after a lethal breakaway. Simple finish, ruthless build-up. That's the template Boro will want to repeat.
Amario Cozier-Duberry enjoys his Bolton return
Cozier-Duberry set up the opener and then got his own goal, firing high into the net after McGree picked him out. Two goal involvements against the club he'd been loaned to. Not a bad night's work, that.
His finish came after Bazunu had made another couple of saves, and it ended any faint hope Bolton had of a comeback. From there it was only a question of how many Boro would get.
Bolton's bright spell and the table picture
Give Bolton some credit, though. Theo Bair pulled one back right before half-time with a shot through a crowd, and for almost 20 minutes after the break they didn't allow Boro a single shot. That's a proper spell of pressure.
But the visitors weathered it, Bazunu kept making saves, and then the gloss arrived through Cozier-Duberry and Lankshear. Bolton's good patch never turned into a second goal, and Boro punished them.
The win moves Hellberg's side two points above Swansea, who travel to QPR on Saturday, and three above West Ham, who take on Southampton. So Boro sit top, with the chasing pack still to play.
For Boro, going top with a five-goal away win is a statement. For Bolton, it's a night where the scoreline got away from them after a decent spell either side of half-time.
Original report: skysports.com.
