After a pretty equal first-half Dan Neil’s dismissal turned the game around and we looked very vulnerable at the back. Boro took their chances well and we had little left to offer.
BEFORE
This must be a very interesting weekend in the Mowbray household but there's no doubt where Tony's loyalties lie today. It's going to be a tougher challenge than the Watford game as Boro are on a winning streak after a poor start to the season. Latte Lath sounds like he could be a real handful and I'd be pleasantly surprised if we manage another clean sheet. Back in the Sixties when I first started going to matches many of us considered this encounter to be a derby game, although not of course on the same level as those against the Mags, but most supporters these days just view it as another match. Pritchard will definitely not be taking part today so I imagine we'll start with the same side that began on Wednesday. We're playing with confidence and have shown that just about any player can bang in a great goal so I'm sure it'll be an exciting match with a few goals. There should be plenty of Boro fans present to add to the spicy atmosphere and I hope they behave themselves. I won't be having my traditional pre-match slurp due to the early kick-off so I'm meeting my mates by the Stokoe statue instead. It's going to be a battle but my match prediction is a 2-1 win for us.
There was a strong police presence in Fawcett Street and they were turning back a group of wannabee Ultras (hoods, masks the lot). I assumed they were Boro fans but they were ours. Anyway, my friends’ match predictions were 2-1, 2-1 and 3-0. I was in my seat in the centre of the East Stand at 12.15 and there was a good deal of racket going on already. A quick look at the team-news indicated that there were no changes from Wednesday’s side. As the teams emerged there was a great display of flags in the Roker End. There was a good turnout from the Boro fans but the front seats overlooking our fans were sealed off to prevent any mischief.
THE MATCH
There was no goalmouth action in the opening stages but we conceded a free-kick in a dangerous spot not far outside our box in the fourth minute. After a dodgy backwards header it went out for a throw on our left which came to nothing. Five minutes later we put together a very tasty move down the left that culminated in a Ba shot that went just over the bar. Boro weren’t holding back with the tackles and a yellow-card seemed imminent. By fifteen minutes Boro hadn’t mustered a serious scoring chance but they were still looking strong coming forward. It was Neil who got the first yellow for a foul on the half-way line and he couldn’t argue about it. We were overhitting too many passes and Clarke was of course being well-marshalled so he hadn’t seen much of the ball so far. We won our first corner in the twenty-first but it was eventually gathered by Dieng in goal.
We won another corner in the twenty-third and Clarke’s ensuing cross went over everyone’s head. Shortly afterwards Boro went close with Patterson making a point blank save and then the ball bouncing off the post for a corner. Boro were starting to press more and they got another corner. We had to wait for it to be taken as Huggins was down injured for a while and finally had to be replaced by Seelt. A chant of, “Soft Mackem wankers” was countered by, “You’re just a small town in Yorkshire.” Boro continued to do most of the pressing but we were awarded a free-kick in a great spot outside their box in the thirty-second for a foul on Burstow. It bounced up off their wall and they won a free-kick for a foul on Dieng. A Hume shot went narrowly over the top and the play was flowing from end to end. A foul on Clarke led to another free-kick in a great position in the thirty-eighth but we couldn’t make it count. Two minutes later it was free-kick time once more and Ballard hit the net again, though this time it wasn’t with the ball but with goalkeeper Dieng.
Three minutes of added-time were announced and it was nearly up when Neil suddenly got a second yellow and a red. Nobody around me seemed to know why but it must have been for a bit of verbal. As the teams went off at the whistle there was a major scrummage about something that resulted in a yellow for Ballard and one for Boro’s Coburn too. It had been a tight match so far and the second-half was shaping up to be…interesting.
Dennis Tueart came on to make the half-time draw and he received a decent ripple. Monty, who’s eighty on Monday, came on for a pitch-side interview and he got a very good ripple.
As we kicked off again Aouchiche had replaced Burstow. Two minutes in it looked like we were going to go behind but Patto managed to get a hand on a low shot to divert it for a corner. The corner was subsequently headed over but we were looking sleepy at the back. Seelt was fouled and I could hear the crack right back where I was sitting, though no card was given. Boro won a corner in the fifty-seventh and when it came back in from the left, Greenwood flicked it into the net to put them ahead. A draw at that point seemed like the best we could hope for. We were looking vulnerable and soon it was 0-2 with Crooks turning in a low cross from the right. We replaced Ba with Rigg in the sixty-third and that brought a bit of a glow at any rate. The ref Jarred Gillett was getting increasingly booed by our fans and he received his own special chant, “Who’s the wanker in the blue?”
With twenty-five minutes left we hadn’t managed an attack for a while and it appeared to be a case of damage-limitation. A few fans were already making for the exit. Latte Lath had also come on and I could have done without that too. In the seventy-second it was 0-3 when Jones scored with a low shot after our defence had looked very porous. We’d lost all our cohesion and on our occasional attacks our passing was all to pot. Most fans around me were sitting tight, though. With a quarter of an hour left we brought on Rusyn for Clarke. All we needed from him was a hat-trick. I felt that Boro were going to get a fourth before long. With ten minutes left Rusyn had a decent low shot on target that Dieng blocked. We were still having a go as Boro sat back and a consolation goal is always worth having. Seelt forced a parry from Dieng and we won a corner. “Don’t worry about a thing cos every little thing’s gonna be all right” echoed loudly around the stadium as the final minutes ticked away. In the final minute it was 0-4 when Forss slammed it in from close range. I could have done without the five minutes of added-time but, looking on the bright side, half the crowd had gone home so it would be easier to get out of the ground. It ended 0-4.
