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Surprise, surprise, both Patrick Bamford (Middlesbrough) and Bertrand Traoré (Vitesse) were back in the goals on Saturday. Sure as a sunrise or a sunset, goals from those two.
Bamford's Middlesbrough -- Tomas Kalas got yet another start as well, his his 10th in Boro's last 12 league games, as a right back this time -- remained firmly in the hunt for automatic promotion with a 2-0 win over Rotherham United. After a scoreless first half, a goal five minutes into the second from Lee Tomlin set Boro on their way. Fifteen minutes later, Patrick Bamford popped up with his 18th in all competitions to seal the deal.
Right place, right time. It was Bamford's 16th goal in the league, and that matches Fabrizio Ravanelli for most league goals scored in a season in the last 17 years. The White Feather of course did it in the Premier League. Bamford missed out on his brace when his last minute penalty kick was saved.
A man who did not miss his brace was young Bertrand Traoré, starting once again at center forward for Vitesse. Their 3-1 win over Excelsior was their 11th in a row unbeaten (9 wins, 2 draws). Traoré had gone scoreless the previous two games, which is simply unheard of in 2015, so he made up for that massive drought by giving Vitesse the lead twice. His first was lovely curling finish from the top of the box (if he were Messi, this would be front-page news).
The second one was even better. Who needs teammates? Not this guy!
That may be overstating the situation of course. Everybody needs teammates. Especially when that teammate is Josh McEachran, who was the provider of the pass that set Traoré loose. And was the provider of the pass before the pass on the first goal. That's right, McEachran's alive! He even started this one (his 4th of the year). Wowza!
Since switching to centre forward from the wing, Bertrand Traore has 10 goals + 3 assists in 13 games + Vitesse is W10 D3 L0. Smart move.
— Jake Cohen (@JakeFCohen) April 11, 2015
In further news, there were starts for Nathaniel Chalobah and Nathan Aké (both Reading) and Alex Davey (Scunthorpe), while Lewis Baker (MK Dons) and John Swift (Swindon Town) made substitute appearances. Swift even collected an assist on Swindon's lone goal in their win.
Well done, all!