Kim Hellberg has been chastised for being “too clever” in benching Will Lankshear for Middlesbrough’s thrilling 2-2 draw at home to Cardiff City on Saturday lunchtime, with the in-form striker going on to assist his team recover a point after the break.

Lankshear has exceeded significant hype and expectation since arriving on Teesside in a permanent deal from Tottenham Hotspur over the summer. According to reports, Middlesbrough paid an initial £8 million, which will rise to £20 million if various add-on criteria – including promotion to the Premier League – are met.

Lankshear, who scored 12 goals in all competitions on loan at relegated Oxford United the previous season, is on the verge of matching that total after accompanying his two EFL Cup goals with nine from 11 in Championship action to lead the division’s scoring statistics.

The 21-year-old’s goals are proving to be the driving force behind Boro’s ongoing promotion bid, which has taken them to just one point behind league leaders Swansea City at the time of writing. However, despite starting every league match prior to Cardiff’s visit and scoring in his last two outings against Stoke and Wolves, he was a surprise inclusion on the bench ahead of Saturday’s lunchtime kickoff.

Lankshear, of course, would only play the first half as a substitute before being inserted and helping Hellberg’s team overcome a two-goal deficit at home to the Bluebirds, but the decision to leave the England youth international out has caused a backlash.

Middlesbrough’s Kim Hellberg accused of being ‘too clever’ with Will Lankshear’s ruling against Cardiff City.

Middlesbrough fans were astonished to see Lankshear on the bench behind Kyle Joseph, who has failed to score a Championship goal at the Riverside Stadium since joining from Hull City, and did little to justify Hellberg’s faith.

Lankshear’s arrival came at the start of the second half, and he didn’t take long to score, restoring parity after Tommy Conway had halved the deficit just minutes before, and Hellberg is likely to have learned from his mistake.

The dust has settled on Middlesbrough’s draw at home to Cardiff, which could be interpreted as an occasion where all three points were on the line despite being two goals down at halftime, but commentary duo Aaron McLean and Adam Virgo have both weighed in to say that the Swede was trying to be “too clever” by dropping his top scorer against Brian Barry-Murphy’s side.

Speaking on the Insidethe72pod podcast, the duo questioned Hellberg’s selection decision and emphasised the importance of Lankshear starting every available game if Middlesbrough are to go all the way and secure promotion back to the promised land.

McLean said: “I was looking at Middlesbrough, Will Lankshear’s starting on the bench, and I’m thinking ‘you’re trying to win the league and you’ve got a £20m striker sat on the bench!”

“They’re 2-0 down at half-time, he comes on at half-time and scores and they get a point.””It was an excellent goal,” Virgo remarked.But, certainly, I believe he will continue. When managers strive to be too clever for their own good, they consider who they’re playing against and whether they can rest him.

“But I think it simply shows how crucial it is for him to start consistently. You start them (your best players) and then pull them off if they appear tired, not the other way around, especially given his current form.”

Will Lankshear changed the game for Middlesbrough vs Cardiff City

It was also entirely against the run of play, as while Cardiff had more possession, Middlesbrough routinely took up threatening positions and had previously fired 17 efforts at Nathan Trott’s goal without success.

Amario Cozier-Duberry, as usual, was dangerous and provided moments of sheer electricity throughout a tumultuous first half, but it was defined by Boro’s lack of cutting edge, and with Joseph squandering opportunities to fire past the Bluebirds, Hellberg’s quick decision to pull the Scotsman off in place of Lankshear came as much less surprising.

Within 16 minutes, the Teessiders were level.

The Spurs academy product’s entrance instantly transformed the tempo of the game, as Middlesbrough launched an immediate second-half onslaught on their opponents, attacking with increased vigour, fluidity, and intensity – and this time, they made it count.

Conway’s smooth finish cut Cardiff’s lead in half, but Lankshear levelled the game just three minutes later with a well-placed strike from Cozier-Duberry’s lay-off just outside the box that went past Trott and into the left corner of the goal.

Middlesbrough appeared to be in pole position to subject Cardiff to a late-stage rout, and they could have won by a large margin, with their explosive wing-play, expansive forward passing, and unrelenting attacking style nearly proving too much to handle.

Cardiff eventually weathered the storm and clung on for a hard-fought point, despite Borough having 19 shots on goal and only one of their own before Gabriel Osho was sent off in the dying minutes for a challenge on Lankshear, who was a constant thorn in the Bluebirds’ backline.

Cardiff witnessed the full scope of Lankshear’s multifaceted usefulness in the final third, as he provided Borough with a new attacking dimension that turned the game on its head.

Will Lankshear’s statistics for Middlesbrough vs Cardiff City, courtesy FotMob

Minutes played

45

Goals

1 xG

0.23

Shots

2

Big chances missed.

1

Chances created

1 passes into the final third.

2

Duels won

1

His ability to link play and combine, run the channels, press high, drive forward, and drop deep to gain possession caused plenty of headaches for the desperate visitors, and will have reminded Hellberg – one hopes – of why his presence at the Riverside Stadium is irreplaceable.

Kim Hellberg must learn from the Middlesbrough, Will Lankshear predicament against Cardiff City.

There’s nothing wrong with squad rotation, and keeping your key performers fresh is always beneficial.

Lankshear’s scoring rate, on the other hand, has simply been too high to justify such a rotation, especially given that the striker did not even play the full 90 minutes in Middlesbrough’s 3-2 midweek victory over Stoke, and Joseph, who was tasked with replacing him against the Bluebirds, has made no tangible impact on Teesside.

It seemed like a perplexing decision at the time, and so it proved.

Now, with the race for automatic promotion heating up as Middlesbrough and West Ham look to put more pressure on first-placed Swansea, Hellberg must quickly learn from his mistakes, as the margin for error against more superior sides – even if Cardiff gave the north-east outfit one of their toughest games – will be much smaller, and greater danger looms.

Lankshear, unless he’s off of form, should have made himself unstoppable under Hellberg, and the same goes for ultra-talented winger Cozier-Duberry. Joseph will undoubtedly have more opportunities to prove his worth on Teesside, but they should not come while Lankshear is rippling goal nets with such ease and frequency.