Darren Randolph produced arguably the best save of the Championship season to help Boro beat Hull City at the Riverside.
Hull City manager Nigel Adkins admits that he could scarcely believe that acrobatic save Darren Randolph produced to keep out a Kamil Grosicki free-kick during their 1-0 defeat to Middlesbrough on Saturday, while speaking to the club’s official website.
After six successive defeats, Boro have bounced back in recent games and followed up a 2-0 triumph over Bolton Wanderers with a nervy victory against Hull at the Riverside.
Britt Assombalonga scored the only goal of the game to keep the club’s promotion hopes alive but it was goalkeeper Randolph who hogged the headlines.
With just minutes remaining the Republic of Ireland international used every inch of his 6ft1 frame to tip Grosicki’s curling set-piece onto the crossbar, securing a vital result which takes some of the mounting pressure off Tony Pulis.
And Adkins clearly believes that the luck was on Boro’s side.
“We’ve dominated that second half and you can see how their goalkeeper Darren Randolph has got in the team of the season because he’s made an unbelievable save from Kamil Grosicki’s free kick at the end,” said the former Southampton coach.
“He’s got a fingertip on it to get it onto the underside of the bar and the ball has bounced down right on the line – maybe that’s the fortune that we haven’t had on the day.”
It was this sort of match-winning brilliance that secured Randolph’s place in the Championship Team of the Season and no one could argue with his inclusion on the back of Saturday’s stellar showing.
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