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Socceroos striker Scott McDonald has been demoted to the bench at Middlesbrough for the first time this season following his lean start to the English Championship.
Caretaker boss Steve Agnew decided to use the former Celtic marksman as a substitute in his opening match in charge since Gordon Strachan’s decision mid-week to quit as Middlesbrough manager.
McDonald came on in the 60th minute in his side’s 1-0 loss at Norwich City and missed a golden chance from close range in injury time to grab a point for his beleaguered club.
Strachan’s departure and McDonald’s relegation to the bench is only going to fuel speculation about the Australian’s future at the north-east club.
Strachan signed McDonald from Motherwell in 2007 when he was in charge at Celtic and purchased the Socceroo for a second time earlier this year.
McDonald was a prolific scorer at the Scottish giants and produced a good return in his opening forays at ‘Boro with four goals from 13 matches last season.
But the 27-year-old has not hit the back of the net in his past 11 Championship matches, his last goal for his club coming in a 2-1 Carling Cup win at Millwall two months ago.
Saturday’s result continued a difficult season for Middlesbrough, the club sitting in the drop zone on 11 points from 13 matches.
Agnew called for his players to keep their heads up following Norwich’s first home win over ‘Boro since 1986.
“As I said to the players in there, you have to keep working and believing and with all that work you will always get an opportunity,” he said.
“Today that opportunity was well worked for Scott McDonald. Unfortunately he screwed the ball wide but on another given day it would have gone in.”
Also in the Championship, Australian goalkeeper Adam Federici kept a clean sheet in Reading’s 4-0 win at Burnley.
In the English premiership, Tim Cahill’s Everton continued their revival with a 1-1 draw at Tottenham.
The Australian produced a rasping long-range shot in the second half that sailed just wide of the post but the spoils deserved to be shared at White Hart Lane.
Mark Schwarzer’s Fulham lost 2-1 at West Brom to continue the London side’s poor record away from Craven Cottage.
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