Boro picked up only their second home win of the season on Monday, their South American attacker making the difference.
It’s fair to say the prospect of a Monday night scuffle between two of the Premier League’s least exciting sides hardly got the pulse racing.
And, if you can’t judge a book by its cover, you can usually have an educated guess about its contents.
Even the most anti-I’m a Celeb amongst you would surely have been longing for the sight of the Homes Under The Hammer presenter chewing on a kangaroos nether regions as blunt attack met obdurate defence at the Riverside. Thank god, then, for Gaston Ramirez.
The Uruguayan international netted the only goal of an otherwise tiresome game, flicking home a header from a corner kick on the hour. Notwithstanding Ben Gibson’s fine sliding tackle to cut out Adama Diomande late in the first-half, Ramirez was the single exponent of some all-too rare attacking quality as Aitor Karanka’s side just about scraped their way to only their second home victory of the campaign.
Alongside Hatem Ben Arfa, Ramirez endured a dismal loan spell at Hull during the 2014/15 season, falling out of favour under Steve Bruce before reviving his stalling career in the North East.
These days, he’s one of the first names on the team sheet and, on Monday’s evidence, that will not be changing any time soon.
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