Key events
39 min: Big save from Brynn! Broadhead drives across the penalty area, times a reverse pass to Smith to perfection but Brynn is out quickly to stop the shot with his legs.
36 min: Hyam chucks himself at Berhalter’s cross and heads clear for Wrexham. The ball comes back in and Hyam wrestles with Lankshear before getting his head on it.
Goals elsewhere: Fer López for Wolves, 3-0 vs Port Vale, and Ewan Henderson equalises for Wycombe against Stevenage.
34 min: Hyam sends a bobbler back for Ward but the Wrexham keeper deals with it … until he punts it upfield to a Middlesbrough player. Malanda gets his pass wrong on the edge of the Wrexham box and it goes out for a goal-kick.
32 min: Wrexham get bodies into the Boro box but the whistle goes for a Smith offside as Broadhead lines up a shot on his left foot.
30 min: Ayling sprays the ball out to the Boro left for Castledine. Wrexham get back quickly after he hesitates in the area. From the resulting corner we get our first Ayling Flop of the evening – nothing given.
28 min: Sebastian Berhalter already looks a fine signing for Middlesbrough – so accomplished on the ball and his set-piece deliveries have been dangerous. The midfielder, who is the son of the former USA coach Gregg Berhalter, scored against Turkey in his only start at the World Cup under Mauricio Pochettino.
26 min: Wrexham are choosing their moments to get forward. They look happy to sit in and let Boro ask the questions for the most part. Whittaker asks the next one, jinking inside one before Doyle barges into him – fairly – about 25 yards from goal.
24 min: Malanda and Brittain work it nicely between them in the Wrexham half. The ball is played in front of Lankshear and Vyner gets his foot in before the striker can reach the penalty area.
22 min: Wrexham spend a lot of time playing the ball around at the back but don’t get beyond their own third before losing it.
André has made it 2-0 to Wolves at home to Port Vale.
20 min: Whittaker and Lankshear work an opening nicely for Boro and the signing from Spurs cuts the ball back for Sarmiento inside the area. Hyam gets up close and personal, with a bit of a shirt pull, and Sarmiento’s scuffed shot doesn’t threaten Ward at his near post.
18 min: After an open start, the game has started to get a bit scrappy.
16 min: Lankshear finds room to shoot on the edge of the box for Boro but his strike is low and easy for Ward to gather. At the other end, Doyle’s delivery is excellent again but Imray misjudges it at the back post and the ball drifts away from danger.
14 min: Broadhead should do better for Wrexham. Brittain gets on the end of a cross to the back post, heading it across the six-yard box where Broadhead is waiting. He doesn’t get enough contact on his header to direct it goalwards and Boro clear.
12 min: Vyner gives Boro a headache as he marauds forward from centre-back. Sarmiento gets a foot in when Vyner reaches the penalty area and Boro eventually hook it out for a throw.
Stevenage have the lead at Wycombe through Dan Kemp.
10 min: Another corner for Boro. Berhalter delivers an inswinger with his right foot but Smith is fouled and it’s a free-kick to Wrexham.
8 min: Big chance for Middlesbrough! Berhalter’s corner goes short and he delivers an excellent cross after getting it back. Malanda and Lankshear are lurking in the six-yard box and Ward is there to stop Malanda’s volley at point-blank range for Wrexham.
6 min: The whistle goes for a foul by Malanda, who was holding on to Hyam as the corner came in.
Wolves have the lead against Port Vale, Adam Armstrong tucking home after Mateus Mane’s cutback.
Boro have another corner …
4 min: Doyle whips a ball in from the Wrexham left and Rathbone was waiting to connect behind Ayling, who manages to hook it clear. Brittain wins a corner for Middlesbrough.
2 min: Malanda, as is his wont, starts in an advanced position while Boro are on the ball. He tries to feed the ball through for Sarmiento but Vyner deals with it for Wrexham.
Kick-off
Nathan Broadhead gets us under way. Wrexham are in all black, with Boro in all red. It’s not exactly full at the Riverside, but it’s a decent effort.
We’re 10 minutes from kick-off at the Riverside. There will be no hydration breaks and, as far as I’m aware, no full squad walkouts. Phew.
Middlesbrough have spent over £30m this summer in their bid to reach the Premier League:
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Will Lankshear (£20m, Tottenham)
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Max Arfsten (£5.6m, Columbus Crew)
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Kyle Joseph (£4m, Hull)
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Jeremy Sarmiento (£3.4m, Brighton)
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Sebastian Berhalter (£1.65m, Vancouver Whitecaps)
They’ve also lost talisman Hayden Hackey, who joined Everton for £17m, plus the likes of Dael Fry and Matt Targett on free transfers.
Head coach Kim Hellberg said …
“We lost some good players … But we’ve also got some very talented players in. I think that when we start the season, we’re going to be at a higher level. I think we have a higher potential in the players we have here, and that we’re going to have a stronger squad when we start the season.
Credit to the people above me, they have been doing a brilliant job. We will see if we add some more, which we hopefully will do.
Middlesbrough’s pre-season has taken them to the Algarve and Glasgow, plus a couple of fixtures at home:
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Farense 2-2 Middlesbrough, Quinta do Lago
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Celtic 1-1 Middlesbrough, Glasgow
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Middlesbrough 1-3 Huddersfield, Rockliffe Park
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Middlesbrough 3-3 Espanyol, Riverside Stadium
Wrexham have been to Poland, Finland and the US – including a friendly against Liverpool at Yankee Stadium, as you do:
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Wisla Krakow 0-0 Wrexham, Krakow
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Manchester Utd 0-1 Wrexham, Helsinki
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Leeds 2-3 Wrexham, Tampa
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Liverpool 1-0 Wrexham, New York
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Sunderland 1-0 Wrexham, Philadelphia
It’s been a tight turnaround for Wrexham – they only arrived back in the UK at the start of this week.
Phil Parkinson said …
We haven’t trained much this week because it was important to ensure the lads had the rest they needed so their bodies could recover, but we’re going up there to give the best account of ourselves.
It’s a fantastic experience to be over in America representing Wrexham, it really is, you almost have to see it to believe it. We’ve enjoyed that but now it’s full focus on the start of the season.
Starting lineups
Middlesbrough (3-4-1-2): Brynn; Ayling, Borges, Malanda; Brittain, Berhalter, Castledine, Arfsten; Sarmiento; Whittaker, Lankshear.
Subs: Dieng, McLaughlin, Joseph, Edmundson, McCabe, Ibeh, Cartwright, Dede, Daley.
Will Lankshear, a £10m buy from Spurs, makes his competitive debut for Boro up front. Their two American signings, Max Arfsten and Sebastian Berhalter, start as well.
Wrexham (3-4-2-1): Ward; Vyner, Hyam, Doyle; Imray, M James, O’Brien, Thomason; Rathbone, Broadhead; Smith.
Subs: Okonkwo, Cleworth, Keillor-Dunn, Whiteman, Cadamarteri, Dobson, Moore, Scarr, Longman.
Right wing-back Danny Imray makes his full debut for Wrexham after moving from West Brom and Danny Ward gets the nod in goal.
Carabao Cup fixtures – here’s what’s coming up tonight and over the weekend. All times BST.
Tonight
Wolves v Port Vale (7.45pm)
Wycombe v Stevenage (7.45pm)
Middlesbrough v Wrexham (8pm)
Tomorrow
Cambridge Utd v Barnet (1pm)
QPR v Millwall (2pm)
24 ties at 3pm including West Ham v Portsmouth, Swansea v Birmingham and Burnley v Notts County
Cheltenham v Charlton (5.30pm)
Colchester v Southampton (5.30pm)
Rotherham v West Brom (5.30pm)
Sunday
Mansfield v Sheffield Utd (4pm)
Monday
Plymouth v Exeter (8pm)
For now the competition is split into north and south sections, as will be the case in round two, when the 11 Premier League sides not involved in Europe (including Chelsea, Tottenham, Everton and Newcastle) will enter. Round two is back to midweek on 25-27 August.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the start of the English football season. Well, technically that was yesterday with Walsall beating Bristol City in the opening game of the Carabao Cup proper – there was a preliminary round last weekend. But tonight there are three first-round ties and I’ll be focusing on the one at the Riverside as Middlesbrough host Wrexham.
The start of the EFL season has been spread out to allow players to have more rest between their first few matches, hence why a full round of Carabao Cup fixtures are being played over the course of the weekend for the first time this century.
Middlesbrough would have been hoping to avoid this round when they faced Hull in the Championship playoff final at the end of May, but their return to the big time has not happened just yet. Wrexham have been in the big time this summer, touring the United States, as they have in previous years, off the back of the success of their documentary series and the influence of their Hollywood owners.
Kick-off in the north east is at 8pm (BST) – if you want to get in touch during the game then you can email me here.