Middlesbrough - Progress Of Sorts

I hesitate to write this post, as any praise I heap on them invariably jinxes them.

However, after last night's result away at Barnsley (an emphatic 3-1 victory in which we scored ALL the goals) Boro are now 4 games unbeaten this season, including a 3-0 win at Wallsall in the Carling Cup.

Marvin Emnes has got off to a flier with 6 goals in our 4 games so far (scored a hat-trick against Walsall).

Also currently 4th in the Championship, behind Southampton, Brighton and Derby. If we're in the same place come May, I'll be very happy.

Long Live Tony Mowbray and Long Live the Riverside Revolution!

Make that 5 games unbeaten.

Beat Birmingham at home 3-1 today, after conceding a 1st half penalty.

Stalwart Barry Robson equalised int he 2nd half and two of our new boys (free signings), Faris Haroun and Malaury Martin scored within 3 minutes of each other. Martin's was a brilliant unstoppable long-range screamer.

Now 3rd place in the Championship, ahead of Brighton on goal difference.

Only downside was one of our first choice strikers, Scott McDonald had to go off injured. Hope its not too serious as we're not exactly blessed in the forward department. If it is serious, Mowbray will need to get a replacement in.

Did someone say our future was bleak?

Good retort Dyre!

Concerned about mcDonald being out, cos I though Emnes was awful, looked half a sleep to me!

Step forward Lee Miller, surely not?

Liked teh look of Haroun and Martin, concerned over our fullbacks though, Bennett seems to be getting slower every week, and McMahon thinks he is David beckham!

All in all, another good win - and if you would be so brash 17 unbeaten!!

UTB

Thanks JD!

Agree that defensively we're still a bit suspect - prime example being the Birmingham counterattack that led to the penalty.

On the plus side, Boro seem to spend most of the time attacking, so the defence doesn't usually have that much to do.

Having Skippy out long-term is a worry and the thought of Miller coming back doesn't exactly inspire confidence...but maybe Mogga's Magic will rub off on him? Think we can excuse Emnes one bad game after the start he's had...lets just hope it was a blip.

Well, not the best performance or result today. We were dominant in the first half against Coventry and over the whole match, created enough chances to bury them.

Sadly, we didn't take them and build on our 1st half goal...and we duly got punished for it in the second half. Coventry came back at us, Boro's play became more disjointed and dangerman Jutkiewicz got the equaliser, cancelling out Emnes' first half strike.

Boro even created chances to win in stoppage time, hitting the post in the dying moments, but it just wasn't to be.

Still, if you'd said to any Boro fan that we'd be 4th in the table, 2 points off the lead and unbeaten in the league after 5 games, we'd have happily taken it.

Just slightly irritating that we should have won this game and probably been top of the table.

Lets hope there is no late bids for Emnes or Williams in the next couple of days. They will be hard to replace if anything happens.

AFter his performance on Saturday, I would quite happily sell Williams.

You could see that equaliser coming a mile off, simply because we have absolutely nothing up front!

lets hope we sign a front man

JDandfries wrote:AFter his performance on Saturday, I would quite happily sell Williams.

You could see that equaliser coming a mile off, simply because we have absolutely nothing up front!

lets hope we sign a front man

Dos Santos from Spurs, on loan?

Josiah Maiestas wrote:

JDandfries wrote:AFter his performance on Saturday, I would quite happily sell Williams.

You could see that equaliser coming a mile off, simply because we have absolutely nothing up front!

lets hope we sign a front man

Dos Santos from Spurs, on loan?

Would certainly take him, and he would certainly fit into our style of play, but I guess he is on high wages so probably not an option!

JDandfries wrote:AFter his performance on Saturday, I would quite happily sell Williams.

You could see that equaliser coming a mile off, simply because we have absolutely nothing up front!

lets hope we sign a front man

You don't sell a player on the back of one dodgy performance.

If that were the case we should sell most of our squad. Remember when a lot of Boro fans were happy for Emnes to go? If you look at the oneboro forum, you'll find most people want Williams to stay, unless we receive a stupidly high offer for him.

You can't blame him solely for us not beating Coventry. As I said, we created more than enough chances to win. The one thing you did get right is that we desperately need to sign a striker, maybe two, with McDonald going off with a suspected hamstring niggle.

Of course he wasn't the reason we didnt win, far from it - the reason is obvious, as I have eluded to.

I am not basing my opinion on one performance, but on saturday he genuinly looked like he didnt want to be there, as did bates!

We have loads of midfielders, so say we get a few quid for Williams, i'd be happy! And wouldnt miss him greatly

Well we need good cover in all positions, given our ususal luck with injuries, so our "bloated" midfield could turn out to be a blessing.

I had hoped Mogga would be able to land a striker before the deadline, but evidently there were no targets available for whatever fees and wages were on offer.

Looks like he is now aiming to bring one or two players in on loan, although it will only be for 3 months max. rather than season-long loans. General consensus on oneboro is that keeping the squad intact will help, both in terms of team spirit and when the aforementioned injuries invariably hit.

Well, its 6 league games unbeaten now - 4 wins and 2 draws - after a solid 2-0 win away at Burnley. To be fair the home side didn't present that much of a threat, barring a few anxious moments towards the end of each half. Also reassuring (given our striker crisis) that both our goals came from midfield, with Nicky Bailey and Joe Bennett both scoring their first goals for Boro. Also good to see McDonald back in the first team - seems his injury wasn't that serious after all.

Back up to 3rd place and still 2 points off the top, though for a while it looked as though we'd end the week top of the league, as results were going against Brighton and Southampton at one point.

Next up another away tie at Palace, followed by 2 home games against Ipswich and Leicester to take us to the end of the month. Expect Palace and Leicester to be tough games. May have to settle for 4 or 5 points from these fixtures.

CRYSTAL PALACE 0 - 1 BORO

Well that was a toughie, as expected. What I didn't expect was Boro to take the lead (thankyou yet again Marvellous Marvin Emnes), much less for them to hang on for the win, despite Joe Bennett getting sent off for a second bookable offence with about quarter of an hour still to play.

Thats now 5 wins and 2 draws from 7 games. We were briefly top of the Championship, until Southampton comprehensively beat Birmingham.

After this I'm expecting a full 6 points from our next 2 games, both at home, to Leicester and Ipswich. The Bargain Basement Boro juggernaut rolls on...

Think that is where we will fall down, Dyre, you should never EXPECT anything from a boro team - but wow we will have turned a corner if we do pick up maximum from those two games.

however history suggests a loss and a draw!

Won't argue with you there JD. Boro have a long and proud tradition of winning games you don't expect them to and losing games you expect them to win.

Any other season I would expect the same, especially as Boro's home form hasn't quite matched their away form, to date.

However, I am quietly confident...

BORO 0 - 0 IPSWICH TOWN

Well, JD's fears proved to be somewhat correct, after a solid, if uninspired home performance resulted in a goalless draw, which on a week of 5 drawn matches, was enough to retain 2nd place in the table.

In truth, Town had the better goalscoring chances and if not for a couple of top-drawer saves from Carl Ikeme, they would have left the Riverside with all 3 points.

Boro were defensively sound for much of the game, with just a few lapses causing heart rates to rise, but they rarely troubled the Ipswich defence.

With Sven Goran Eriksson's Leicester the next visitors, Mowbray and the lads need to find a way to raise their game to the levels achieved on their travels. We can't rely on our good away form to last all season.

Still a case of, so far, so good, but the warning signs are there that Boro can't afford to be complacent.

Leicester may show a bit more ambition that Ipswich did, so that suits us, however I fear they are just indivdually stronger than us, so I say 1-2!

BORO 0 - 0 LEICESTER

Missed this one entirely, being a midweek game, but from all accounts it was a rather subdued affair, with Boro enjoying more possession, but creating about the same number of shots on goal and set pieces as the visitors. All in all an eminently forgettable game.

Have to admit I'm starting to become concerned by our home form and our apparent inability to score. Think visiting teams are seeing our place as Fortress Riverside and are setting out their teams and tactics accordingly, making it harder for Boro to break them down. Mowbray needs to come up with a solution to this, as we can't rely on our away form all season (at least I'd rather we didn't have to).

Anyway, here's hoping for a more lively encounter at Reading this weekend. The Royals' mixed fortunes at home, coupled with Boro's perfect away record give some optimism for a good result for us.

READING 0 - 0 BORO

Okay, its getting a bit boring now. Three goalless draws in succession. Winning one or two would have seen us go top of the league and we're just lucky that Southampton, Derby and West Ham have stuttered lately too, to keep us 2nd and 2 points off the top.

On a positive note, this was another game Boro ought to have won. Reading dominated the first half, without giving the visiting defence too many scares. Boro seemed a different side for the last 30 minutes or so and really piled on the pressure in the last 15. As is so often the case, however, it was too little too late, though Emnes and McDonald missed great chances to grab all 3 points.

Our defence was pretty solid once again and once we started attacking with real intent, we caused Reading a lot of problems. Just hoping Tony Mowbray has ordered a search of the dressing room to try and find our strikers' shooting boots.

I like Mowbray, very good manager, discounting the Celtic disaster, should be a good season for the boys at the Riverside.

Aswell as Emnes has done Dyrewolf, he is not a centre forward, he offers no movement at all unless he has the ball and given our complete lack of wingers I'd quite like to see us go 4-3-3

Ikeme

Hoyte?McMahon Bates Williams Benentt

Bailey Thomson Robson/Haroun

Emnes McDonald Kink/Nimely

Got to say I was surprised by three 0-0 draws on the bounce for you boys, given Mowbray is in charge and he isn't known for his defensive mindedness!

I did warn you on a seperate thread that the second I add Emnes to my fantasy team, he would dry right up...I was right.

Anyone wishing for me to drop him can PM me their highest bids....

@JD:
Agree that a lot of the folks at the oneboro forum reckon Mowbray needs to change the formation. He had Hoyte and McMahon playing as wing-backs, with Bailey, Robson and Haroun in the centre of midfield. For most of the game, we were very passive. Poor passing in the middle and virtually nothing down the wings meant we created very few chances.

Same formation in the second half with Arca on for Hoyte and Thomson on for Robson and we were a lot better. Nimely got a few minutes at the end but not really enough to make his mark.

You're right about Emnes but he's got off to such a flier that I think we all expect him to bang in the goals like an out-and-out striker now.


@sodhat:
We're all pretty surprised too, I can tell you. We've been expecting a season of 4, 5 and 6-goal thrillers. Had a few so far, but things have gone a bit awry lately.

BTW I'm willing to bid the KitKat Caramel Chunky and bottle of apple Tango I've got left over from lunch.

BORO 1 - 1 MILLWALL


I'm seriously thinking of changing the title of this thread to "Typical Boro" instead.

4 draws on the bounce now - although we at least managed to score this time. Trouble is, instead of building on their lead, Boro got a case of the jitters. A mixture of sitting back and poorly-executed attacking moves allowed Millwall to get back into the game. They started the second half the stronger of the two sides and a period of concerted pressure led to a corner, which led to a rather farcical equaliser where no-one was even sure who'd scored. Boro continued to look nervy and disjointed for the rest of the game, but did enough to fashion a number of good scoring chances, none of which they took. Millwall also gave our defence a few more scares, but in the end the result seems a fair one.

Is the pressure of our unbeaten record getting to the lads? I think so.

TM needs to work on rebuilding their confidence, keeping possession and building coherent attacking moves.

More net practice required for McDonald and Emnes who continued to fire blanks. Goalscoring duties on this occasion fell to midfielder Barry Robson.

Ideal opportunity for Mogga to ring the changes, we have been poor since the Coventry game, and the result against Forest has been coming for a while.

I reitterate that Emnes is NOT a striker, and now Mogga has the opportunity to play him wide and stick Kink up front with McDonald.

Changes are needed, Steele is dreadful and does not inspire confidence, and we missed Bates and Williams, so I hope he has the balls to make them!

BORO 2 - 0 DERBY

Bet you wish you'd saved your comments until after the game now, eh JD?

I'll quickly gloss over the midweek defeat at Nottingham Forest, where Boro finally lost their unbeaten record in the league, with a dire performance leading to a 2-0 win for Steve Cotterill's side.

Boro responded magnificently at the weekend, with a lively attacking display that was somewhere near their early season best. One damning stat from the Forest game was that we managed 1 solitary shot on target during the whole game. Against Derby we managed 14.

The first goal came from a somewhat fortunate deflection, Justin Hoyte's shot hitting Rhys Williams before going in the back of the net. The second was a classy header from Emnes. Derby made quite a fight of it though and came very close to scoring on several occasions. It pretty much says it all that keeper Jason Steele was awarded Man Of The Match, pulling off 4 superb saves to deny the Rams, after Tony Mowbray's substitutions and changes of formation led to Boro losing the plot somewhat for the last 15 minutes.

In summary, a much improved attacking performance, but with Steele still finding his match-fitness after coming back from injury, he will need better protection from the defence.

DONCASTER 1 - 3 BORO

After a humiliating, Forest-esque performance at the weekend, during which Boro were deservedly trounced 3-0 by the all-conquering Southampton, the Teessiders got their season back on track with a much improved performance at neighbours Doncaster.

Although a shaky start allowed the home side to take a deserved lead, courtesy of skipper Billy Sharp, who was mourning the death of his newborn son, Boro pulled themselves together and Barry Robson equalised with a fine strike on the half hour. Top scorer Marvin Emnes then took advantage of a defensive mix-up to score a simple tap in during stoppage time, to give Boro the lead at half time. The visitors dominated for much of the second half and when Chimbonda brought down McMahon in the area, Robson stepped up to score the resulting penalty.

The only real down side to the night were injuries to Nicky Bailey and Justin Hoyte. The win restored Boro to 3rd place, just a point behind West Ham.

The Mighty Hornets are on their way 'oop North this weekend. And we're on a two game roll.

BORO 1 - 0 WATFORD

A largely scrappy game, with neither side really dominating, although Boro created and squandered some good chances to open the scoring, namely from Robson, McDonald, Emnes, who all came close to giving Boro the lead.

In the end, it was a rather fortunate stroke of luck that saw the home side take the lead, just before the break, with McDonald putting the ball in the net. He appeared to be offside when he received the ball, but the linesman's flag stayed down.

Apart from that, the game was fairly unremarkable, the most surprising event being a false fire alarm, which saw a sizeable number of fans evacuated, before the all-clear was given.

In summary, Watford can rightly feel a little hard done by as a draw would have been a fair result. In the end though, Boro got a lucky break and held on fairly comfortably for the win, to stay third behind West Ham.

Away win tomorrow i think - 0-1

Blimey! Not confident, are we JD?

Then again I have predicted a home win, so that ought to guarantee a draw at best, or possibly Boro conceding a penalty or having a player sent off, or the ref having a shocker.

Are you forgetting Kevin Phillips??

Certain to score.

BORO 2 - 2 BLACKPOOL

Not this time JD.

Though definitely a case of 2 points dropped, rather than a point gained.

A quite open, attacking game from both sides, although Boro dominated for much of the game. Unfortunately Robson, McDonald and Emnes all squandered good scoring chances in between the goals that were scored...both by Skippy, who seems to have got his confidence back.

A day to forget for defences on both sides, especially Boro's back line, who appeared to go to sleep after each of McDonald's goals, allowing Blackpool to equalise within 5 minutes, keeping the game on a knife edge throughout.

Given Boro's AWOL defence and wastefulness in front of goal, a draw was a fair result, but it was most definitely a case of what could have been.

BRISTOL CITY 0 - 1 BORO

Boro's home draw against Blackpool was followed by a similar performance away to Peterborough, in which they took the lead early in the second half, courtesy of a Matthew Bates header. In typical Boro fashion we didn't press home our advantage and got sloppy towards the end, allowing Posh to equalise with 10 minutes of the match remaining.

This was followed by an under-par home performance against title contenders West Ham. The Hammers caught ther home side napping early on and Piquionne headed the visitors into the lead inside the first 10 minutes. Boro struggled to make much impression on the visitors' defence, aside from McDonald's excellent effort immediately after the opening goal, which Rob Green did well to keep out. He was also equal to further chances by McDonald and Emnes. Boro upped their game second half and restricted West Ham's chances to just one glaring wasted chance, but were finally undone for a second time, in stoppage time, by Carlton Cole. The 2-0 defeat was Boro's first loss at home this season.

Bringing things up to date, Boro's win at Bristol City was a tad fortunate, to say the least. The vast majority of the game was a low-quality, scrappy affair, with both sides creating numerous half-chances, but rarely troubling the opposition keepers. That said Jason Steele had to be at his best on a few occasions to deny the home side. Just as it seemed the game would end as a goalless stalemate, Boro won a free kick on the edge of the area, in stoppage time. Sub Malaury Martin stepped up to blast an absolute rocket past David James, earning the visitors a real smash and grab 3 points.

A draw would have been a fair result, but the 3 points briefly puts Boro back into 3rd place, at least until (or if) Cardiff beat Birmingham at home.

Tony Mowbray has his work cut out in figuring out how to get Boro to play more cohesively and creatively...and intelligently. There is still not enough good movement off the ball, supporting the player who has it, which too often leads to attacks breaking down, or poor final balls. Defensively we still look shaky and un-coordinated. Definitely still a lot of room for improvement.

you seem to miss that the referee missed a clear penalty for handball, and that he bought everything that the boro players sold him, while on numerous examples of our players being fouled he wouldn't give anything. This is reflected in the foul count for City - 2 or 3, for Boro 9.

Draw would have been a fair result for that game.

hodge wrote:you seem to miss that the referee missed a clear penalty for handball, and that he bought everything that the boro players sold him, while on numerous examples of our players being fouled he wouldn't give anything. This is reflected in the foul count for City - 2 or 3, for Boro 9.

Draw would have been a fair result for that game.

Okay you had a decent penalty shout turned down, but hey, them's the breaks. Also according to the BBC's match stats you got your foul count the wrong way round. From what I could tell the Bristol players were far dirtier. In fact, I reckon Cisse was lucky not to get sent off for some of his challenges.

Bristol City 0 - 1 Middlesbrough

9 fouls to City - 3 to Boro, I think you'll find.

I meant as in free kicks for, the boro players were hitting the floor so easily, such as the free kick you scored from yet when there were blatant fouls on city players they were waived off by the ref.

Decent shout? Your player had his arms up and went to the ball

No Bristol City fan should come on and complain, if you are that negative at home, then you deserve to get beat in the last minute.

As for the foul that lead to the free kick, the guy who commited it was so late into the tackle, it was embarrasing

As for the penalty, it probably should have been, and if given would have summed up the game Arca had, yet again Dyerwolfe, he was the reason we were so sluggish in possesion - I counted, he gave the ball away 20 times in the 74 minutes or whatever he was on the pitch - dreadful!

That said, a good win, keeping a clean sheet against a team that includes Maynard, is good, even if they were so negative!

Yeah, theres a fair bit of debate on oneboro whether Martin should start ahead of Arca against Brighton. Most people think so.

hodge wrote:I meant as in free kicks for, the boro players were hitting the floor so easily, such as the free kick you scored from yet when there were blatant fouls on city players they were waived off by the ref.

Decent shout? Your player had his arms up and went to the ball

As I said, them's the breaks. Sometimes the ref doesn't see an incident, or makes the wrong call. We've had stonewall penalties turned down, goals ruled offside when they weren't. You can't (or shouldn't) pin the whole blame for the result on the ref when you only forced our keeper to make 3-4 really good saves (and at least one of those was down to a defensive mix-up.

Honestly Dyre, I have no idea what Mowbray sees in him, and teh ooposition must know he is teh weak link - too slow, and always always gives the ball away.

Hopefuly Robson is back, and he cant start in place of Arca

BORO 1 - 0 BRIGHTON

Another scrappy home performance against Brighton, which we only won thanks to a goalkeeping error by the visitors. Joe Bennett hit a cross from the left wing, which Casper Ankergren spilled, right into the path of Scott McDonald, who duly stuck the ball in the net, midway through the first half. Although Boro dominated most of the first half, Brighton put in a much better performance second half and had several good chances to equalise. Boro were dealt a further blow when Zemmama had to go off injured, replaced by Malaury Martin. The home side had chances to increase their lead but failed to press home their advantage, Bates blazing over the bar from 10 yards, from a McMahon free kick. In the clsoing minutes McDonald had another chance, as did sub Ogbeche. In the end a win was probably a fair result, despite a far from convincing display.


CARDIFF 2 - 3 BORO

A much needed win and a hugely improved performance, which will hopefully restore the early-season confidence and attacking flair Boro showed. The visitors took the lead inside the first 15 minutes, when Bart Ogbeche, making his first starting appearance, hit a shot which took a deflection off a Cardiff defender, beating the keeper.

Boro only held the lead for 8 minutes though. Falling back into their old habits, they allowed Cardiff to come back at them and after some poor defending, Turner headed in the equaliser a short while later. Things looked bleak for Boro when the rampaging Kenny Miller, an ever-present threat, backheeled the ball into the path of Gunnarsson, who was allowed room to shoot, giving the home side the lead a minute before half time.

Boro showed glimpses of their fighting spirit in the second half and a good attacking move culminated in Justin Hoyte crossing for McDonald to sidefoot home from close range. Rejuvenated after getting back on level terms, Boro traded attacking moves with Cardiff for the rest of the game, even dominating for a 15 minute spell in the middle of the half. During this time another move finished with the oft-maligned Julio Arca dropping a looping pinpoint pass onto the feet of Faris Haroun, who held off two Cardiff defenders to set himself up and put Boro into the lead.

As usual the final 10 minutes were a nerve-shredding affair and Cardiff threw caution to the wind, piling forward in search of an equaliser. It didn't help that the ref inexplicably added 3 and a half minutes of stoppage time onto the signalled 5 minutes of extra time at the end of the game, but for once Boro were able to hold out for the win.

The result was hugely important in establishing Boro in the top 3, moving them away from Cardiff and keeping them 2 points clear of Hull. Perhaps more importantly, it leaves Boro just 2 points off the automatic promotion places.

A very mixed festive season for Boro, with a win, a draw and an emphatic defeat leaving Boro still very much in the promotion race, but with supporters thinking of what could have been.

BORO 1 - 0 HULL
A very finely balanced game, with virtually nothing to separate the teams, until Barry Robson conjured a 20+ yard shot from well outside the box in the 87th minute to grab the win. Another "smash 'n' grab" win for Boro and Hull can rightly feel hard done by. Boro weren't exactly poor but didn't dominate enough to really deserve all 3 points.

BORO 1 - 1 PETERBOROUGH
A second consecutive home game and one which most Boro fans would have though was a relatively straightforward 3-pointer. Yet again though, the home side stuttered and failed to dominate after Scott McDonald gave Boro an early lead. A nervy and defensive second half display let Posh back into the game, culminating in a frantic final 10 minutes, during which the visitors predictably equalised. Although a draw was a fair result, it highlighted Boro's inability to kill games off, once they take the lead.


BLACKPOOL 3 - 0 BORO
The first game of 2012 saw Boro apparently suffering a festive hangover, as they completely failed to turn up for this game. That said, things looked fairly promising at half time, with the match still goalless and there was hope we could at least nick a point. That was as good as things got though, as within 5 minutes of the restart, Mat Philips had put the home side ahead. Seven minutes later LuaLua had doubled their lead. To rub salt into the wounds, Hines conceded an own goal with 20 minutes still to play, putting the seal on a truly dreadful day at the seaside.


The upshot of all this is that Boro now lie 4th, level on points with Cardiff and STILL only 2 points off the top of the table after both Southampton and West Ham suffered rare defeats.

No two ways about it, our season's been slightly derailed with 3 consecutive defeats, losing 3-0 away at Blackpool, 2-0 at home to Burnley and 3-1 away at Coventry.

Not much to say other than Boro's performances during all 3 games was average to woeful. The team seems to have lost its early season confidence and attacking spirit. Worse, our defence has gone from being one of the tightest in the division, to having more holes than a colander.

During this time, Cardiff leapfrogged us into 3rd, before Birmingham's long unbeaten run caught up with us, knocking us off 4th spot. Good results for Hull, Blackpool and Reading saw us drop temporarily to 8th.

Until Wednesday night when we travelled to Leicester. A creditable 2-2 draw stopped the rot, but yet again, we could have had all 3 points, but for some sloppy defending. Still, the point was enough to move us up to 5th.

With 4th to 8th places separated by a single point, Boro need to put another unbeaten run together to stay in the play-offs and build a gap to the chasing pack.

McDonald out for 8 weeks is going to make it even harder too

Indeed - its just all good news for us right now, gaffer.

BORO 0 - 0 CRYSTAL PALACE
Again, not a lot to say about this. Another turgid performance that made me glad I was just listening to the radio commentary. Felt sorry for those who made the effort to turn up. Only mitigating circumstances were the freezing, snowy conditions. We created a few decent chances - the best being a cracking shot from Jutkiewicz, in the last 10 minutes, which Palace keeper Julian Speroni kept out with a top drawer save. Overall though, Palace had more possession, more shots on goal and threatened more consistently, notably through Wilfried Zaha, who kept Boro keeper Jason Steele busy throughout the match.

The result was enough to maintain 6th spot, level on points with 5th places Birmingham, who have a hugely superior goal difference.

Boro's woes were added to with injuries to Faris Haroun inside the first 10 minutes and Marvin Emnes limped off in the second half with a suspected calf injury. Our already small squad is now looking paper-thin.

Still Boro continue to blow hot and cold and our hopes of making the play-offs remain as fragile as they have been since the start of the year.

IPSWICH A - A BORO (abandoned due to frozen pitch)
BORO 2 - 1 FOREST
MILLWALL 1 - 3 BORO
BORO 0 - 2 READING

Following the farce that was the away game at Ipswich (abandoned due to a frozen pitch with all but 8 minutes of the first half played), we managed to scrape a nervy 2-1 home win over our perennial bogey team Nottingham Forest. It was a far from convincing performance, but with Marvin Emnes and Lukas Jutkiewicz getting on the scoresheet, it gave hope of better things to come.

And so it seemed as we travelled with cautious optimism to Millwall. A much-improved first half display saw Boro 2-0 up at the break, (courtesy of Marvin Emnes), only for them to nearly undo all their good work by letting the hosts pull one back early in the second half. Most of the second half was spent with bums tightly clenched, until sub Curtis Main scored his debut first team goal to make the game safe. Final score 3-1 to Boro.

So we were fairly confident of being able to get a result of some kind last weekend against visiting Reading. Yes, they had a very respectable away record and were in good form and yes Boro tend to be shaky in front of their home fans, but 2 wins on the bounce tends to instil confidence in even the most pessimistic of fans.

So it was quite a let-down when Boro turned in a typically lacklustre and disjointed performance. Despite enjoying more possession, the home side rarely threatened the Reading goal. A couple of efforts from Jutkiewicz and a header from Williams were about the only efforts that had Royals keeper Federici at full stretch to keep out.

The first goal was down to poor marking, Hunt stealing in to tuck away a cross, while the second was down to conceding a freekick in a dangerous position, which Harte duly put away. Reading could / should even have had a third, when Jobi McAnuff was brought down in the box, late on.


It seems Boro are still unable to build any momentum and capitalise on earlier results, while the sides currently occupying the play-off spots are putting runs together. Yes, we still have a couple of key player out, but our squad isn't exactly decimated.

Worse, while Reading are indeed on a good run, they're hardly an outstanding team. Hard working, disciplined and well organised yes, but not overflowing with creative wizardry. In short, had Boro matched them for hard work and organisation, we should have got something from the game.

The next 5 games don't exactly inspire confidence in picking up more points in the short term either:

Portsmouth - A (very decent home record)
Barnsley - H (poor away record)
Leeds - H (mixed away record)
Birmingham - A (solid home record)
West Ham - A (solid home record)

Pompey and Leeds anything could happen. I'd expect us to be able to get 3 points against Barnsley, but we're very unlikely to get any joy at either Birmingham or West Ham.

PORTSMOUTH 1 - 3 BORO
BORO 2 - 0 BARNSLEY
BORO 0 - 2 LEEDS

Hmm... Just when it looked like we were getting back on a roll, the Boro bandwagon bogged down again in a sea of lethargy and ineptitude (in front of a decent home crowd of over 21,000 - despite the game being televised on the BBC).

In a nutshell, Boro just never got going and never really presented much of a threat to the Leeds goal. The visitors started much the brighter and had the game wrapped up inside the first 30 minutes, the goals coming courtesy of Snodgrass and Becchio. Rhys Williams came closest to scoring for Boro with a second half header and that was about it. In a characteristically niggly, bad-tempered game, Barry Robson received a red card in the 87th minute.

Before that, it seemed our promotion campaign was back on track with an impressive away performance at Pompey, with goals from Bates, Robson and Emnes sealing an emphatic win against the beleaguered south coast side.

True, the home win against Barnsley, the following week, was scrappy and somewhat flattering, given the second goal was the result of a goalkeeping blunder, which allowed Bart Ogbeche to nip in and chip the keeper. It did however give the fans misplaced hope that Boro had finally overcome their home-day hoodoo and that they'd finally start delivering more winning performances at the Riverside.

Sadly, normal service was resumed against "Dirty Leeds".

With 3 tough away games coming up against Birmingham, West Ham and Brighton, Boro look set to lose ground on the other promotion hopefuls. What should be a routine win at home to Bristol City won't be enough to make up for what I fully expect to be 3 away defeats.

BIRMINGHAM 3 - 0 BORO
WEST HAM 1 - 1 BORO
BORO 1 - 1 BRISTOL CITY
IPSWICH 1 - 1 BORO
BRIGHTON 1 - 1 BORO

Okay, I'm seriously considering re-naming this thread. While things aren't exactly gloomy, looking back on the trouble the club was in at the start of the season, we're certainly doing our best to undo the great start we had to the season.

Granted we have one of the toughest run-ins of any of the top 7-8 clubs, but its mainly our inconsistency and lapses in concentration that have seen us drop points and lose ground on our play-off rivals. Frustratingly, Boro are still showing glimpses of their true potential, which makes our current position all the more frustating.

No real excuses or complaints about the Birmingham result. They took an early lead through sloppy defending, then sealed the game with 2 goals in the second half in the space of 3 minutes, both of which stemmed from Boro giving the ball away in midfield.

The West Ham was a nervy, scrappy affair with neither side looking that great for most of the game. The Hammers scored first, courtesy of a Bennett own-goal, deflecting an attempted Faye header high over Steele's head. Substitute Bart Ogbeche scored a spectacular long-range effort with 5 minutes to go, to level the match. In a frantic finish Jutkiewicz rattled the bar and Ogbeche had a shot cleared off the line. Probably should have won but satisfied with a point.

The home match against Bristol City was a frustrating one in which Boro again looked nervous and devoid of confidence in front of a home crowd. The visitors had the better of the first half and made it count, opening the scoring inside the first 15 minutes. It took another long-range strike from substitute Malaury Martin, just before the hour mark, to grab a point. Very poor performance that Boro barely deserved a point from.

The replay of the postponed match against Ipswich went pretty much as expected. The home side had more possession, corners and goal attempts but Boro hung on. Even when Ipswich were awarded a penalty when Smallwood brought Leadbitter down in the area, just before the hour mark, Jason Steele pulled off a brilliant save. Just 4 minutes later Jutkiewicz opened the scoring for Boro. This time, however, Boro were on the wrong end of the "game-saving wonder goal" when Leadbitter produced a low, long-range effort Steele could do nothing about. All in all a decent performance and a draw was a fair result.

The trip to Brighton produced the liveliest, most open game witnessed for some time, with both sides evenly matched and trying to play good attacking football. Marvin Emnes opened the scoring just after the hour mark but Boro's chronic failure to defend from set pieces was exposed once again, with a Brighton corner leading to a headed equaliser with 15 minutes remaining. Best performance for a while and a fair result.

These 4 consecutive draws, plus the hammering at Brum, have seen Boro fall out of the play-off places to 7th, after being in the top 6 for most of the season. Our run-in doesn't get any easier (apart from a home game against Doncaster) and its hard to see how we will get back up there.

The upcoming home game against 8th-placed Cardiff is a massive must-win fixture for both clubs.