Patrick hat-trick gives Bamford big boost as Boro sink Leeds

Patrick Bamford (right) celebrates his first goal for Boro against Leeds United. Picture by Bruce Rollinson

The temperature might have been well below freezing, but Bamford was in red-hot form as he made it six goals in his last three games with a well-taken treble.

Bamford says that he is relishing his central role, having notched twice in last weekend’s dramatic 3-3 draw at Sunderland.

“I enjoy it a lot more (playing as a centre-forward). I don’t mind playing anywhere for the team, I’ll do a job wherever the boss asks me to if it’s for the good of the team,” the 24-year-old told mfc.co.uk.

“Playing out on the left, that wasn’t a problem for me.

“I know ideally I want to play up front, but I’ll give my all for playing out on the left, but I learned a lot playing in that position as well. Now it’s nice to be back up front.

“It was a good game and personally I’m really happy for the team as well because I think that was our most solid performance for the whole 90 minutes.

“Every player can take credit.”

Leeds boss Paul Heckingbottom said: “It was disappointing.

“We were second best and I’m especially disappointed with the goals.

“It’s not acceptable and we’ll get to where we want to be with that performance.

“The way Boro played upset us and we didn’t compete well enough.

“We weren’t aggressive enough.”