r00fie1
Well-known member
Its that time again>>>>>>
Monday 1st April 2024. EFL Championship. Middlesbrough v Sheffield Wednesday. The Riverside Stadium. KO: 15:00 hrs
V 
Back in September, in the early part of this season, perhaps the most exciting part of our game at Hillsborough was the home fans throwing tennis balls on to the pitch, in protest over their club's ownership. It was a wretched game and probably the lowest point of our season. The first half in particular was dire, with either side hardly capable of stringing two passes together. Despite Anthony Musaba netting before half-time, we clawed our way back into the game second half with Darragh Lenihan firing past Vasquez into the Wednesday goal. Matt Crooks and Sammy Silvera went close, and we could have sealed the points. But it was a very poor game, with little rhythm, and it was the Owls, right on the 90 minutes, who nearly got the vital winner. Wednesday had experienced the joy of promotion after two years in the old Division Three [EFL 1] and were hoping the momentum would continue into this season, but they had almost as poor start as Boro. At the end of the game, we were rooted to the bottom of the table with 2 points out of a possible 21, with Owls above us on goal-difference!
[Boro were anchored to the bottom of the table last time we met Wednesday at their place].
[Darragh Lenihan saved our bacon with the equaliser in a very poor game]
Although Darren Moore had done a superb job achieving promotion with the Owls through the play-offs in 2022/23, he was inexplicably sacked in June 2022 and replaced by Spaniard Exisco Munoz, who Managed 12 games in just under three months! German, Danny Rhol currently has the job as Manager and has steadied the ship, improved their form, particularly of late, but they remain in a precarious position: second bottom, 19 points above Rotherham, but with the same points as Huddersfield and Birmingham above them. Considering our shaky start to this campaign, the gap between us is now16 points. With seven games to go, Wednesday are still in the battle to stop the drop. With a sell-out away end, they'll be 2000 Owls fans at the Riverside today, adding to what should be a special atmosphere.
Michael Carrick was "delighted" with the overall performance at Southampton on Good Friday, only disappointed we didn't nick the win right at the end. It wasn't without its mistakes: some of our passing could have been tighter, and we could have taken greater advantage of our possession in the area around their box, but to come away with a point from fourth-placed Southampton was no mean feat given their excellent home record: only two defeats and ten wins in the last twelve, we did very well given that challenge.
Said Carrick in his post-match interview:
It was one of those games, where there was a lot of good football played....obviously going one-nil down the boys spirit was unbelievable really. We've taken a few hits again lately and, when you see the bench with the young boys on and one centre-half fit, it could have been easy to be a long day. I thought the boys were unbelievable: kept going, playing some good football, defended well at times. We feel we could have scored more. [I`m] delighted for them. It would have been a tough one to lose after all that effort. [Southampton] tend to have a lot of possession....and we allowed them to have it in certain areas. I thought we defended the box pretty well. I can't fault the boys, I'm so proud of them. It would have been easy in that situation to feel sorry for ourselves, but.....to get the point is probably just enough for the boys to be happy enough to be happy with themselves today.
[The Unlikely lad: Alex Gilbert provided the vital cross to Latte Lath to seal a point at St Mary`s]
["We're Boro! We're barmy!" Our fans going "daft" in that corner after Latte Lath's header condemned Southampton to a solitary point].
Carrick was smiling when asked about the Boro fans who'd made the long trip to the South Coast:
The support again in numbers, to come so far away is fantastic. The away support is....the way they get behind us, even the first half when we go a goal down, the support was there. And we gave them something to smile about on the way home. There's a good little kind of run really [developing]...and we want to keep that going. It's not an easy game [Monday]. Sheffield Wednesday, have improved a lot in terms of results [so] that`l be a challenge for us. The boys will recover well and be ready for that when it comes around.
Wednesday arrive with a possible eight players out of the squad with injuries [sounds familiar] with Danny Rhol hoping his team can build on their tough 1-1 draw against Swansea on Good Friday.
We have to think about ourselves and focus on playing our own game. Three points today would still keep us in touching distance of Norwich, who face a Leicester City side with something to prove. Norwich's game after that is an East Anglian derby against fierce rivals Ipswich Town at Carrow Road. It's not all over till it's all over. Like Carrick said before Southampton, he wants us to get to the play-offs or, failing that, to finish strongly going into the summer. We both need the points for different reasons. Let's hope we grasp the nettle and take the three points today at home.
We can do this!
Come On Boro!
r00fie1 01/04/2024
Monday 1st April 2024. EFL Championship. Middlesbrough v Sheffield Wednesday. The Riverside Stadium. KO: 15:00 hrs
V Back in September, in the early part of this season, perhaps the most exciting part of our game at Hillsborough was the home fans throwing tennis balls on to the pitch, in protest over their club's ownership. It was a wretched game and probably the lowest point of our season. The first half in particular was dire, with either side hardly capable of stringing two passes together. Despite Anthony Musaba netting before half-time, we clawed our way back into the game second half with Darragh Lenihan firing past Vasquez into the Wednesday goal. Matt Crooks and Sammy Silvera went close, and we could have sealed the points. But it was a very poor game, with little rhythm, and it was the Owls, right on the 90 minutes, who nearly got the vital winner. Wednesday had experienced the joy of promotion after two years in the old Division Three [EFL 1] and were hoping the momentum would continue into this season, but they had almost as poor start as Boro. At the end of the game, we were rooted to the bottom of the table with 2 points out of a possible 21, with Owls above us on goal-difference!
[Boro were anchored to the bottom of the table last time we met Wednesday at their place].
[Darragh Lenihan saved our bacon with the equaliser in a very poor game]
Although Darren Moore had done a superb job achieving promotion with the Owls through the play-offs in 2022/23, he was inexplicably sacked in June 2022 and replaced by Spaniard Exisco Munoz, who Managed 12 games in just under three months! German, Danny Rhol currently has the job as Manager and has steadied the ship, improved their form, particularly of late, but they remain in a precarious position: second bottom, 19 points above Rotherham, but with the same points as Huddersfield and Birmingham above them. Considering our shaky start to this campaign, the gap between us is now16 points. With seven games to go, Wednesday are still in the battle to stop the drop. With a sell-out away end, they'll be 2000 Owls fans at the Riverside today, adding to what should be a special atmosphere.
Michael Carrick was "delighted" with the overall performance at Southampton on Good Friday, only disappointed we didn't nick the win right at the end. It wasn't without its mistakes: some of our passing could have been tighter, and we could have taken greater advantage of our possession in the area around their box, but to come away with a point from fourth-placed Southampton was no mean feat given their excellent home record: only two defeats and ten wins in the last twelve, we did very well given that challenge.
Said Carrick in his post-match interview:
It was one of those games, where there was a lot of good football played....obviously going one-nil down the boys spirit was unbelievable really. We've taken a few hits again lately and, when you see the bench with the young boys on and one centre-half fit, it could have been easy to be a long day. I thought the boys were unbelievable: kept going, playing some good football, defended well at times. We feel we could have scored more. [I`m] delighted for them. It would have been a tough one to lose after all that effort. [Southampton] tend to have a lot of possession....and we allowed them to have it in certain areas. I thought we defended the box pretty well. I can't fault the boys, I'm so proud of them. It would have been easy in that situation to feel sorry for ourselves, but.....to get the point is probably just enough for the boys to be happy enough to be happy with themselves today.
[The Unlikely lad: Alex Gilbert provided the vital cross to Latte Lath to seal a point at St Mary`s]
["We're Boro! We're barmy!" Our fans going "daft" in that corner after Latte Lath's header condemned Southampton to a solitary point
].Carrick was smiling when asked about the Boro fans who'd made the long trip to the South Coast:
The support again in numbers, to come so far away is fantastic. The away support is....the way they get behind us, even the first half when we go a goal down, the support was there. And we gave them something to smile about on the way home. There's a good little kind of run really [developing]...and we want to keep that going. It's not an easy game [Monday]. Sheffield Wednesday, have improved a lot in terms of results [so] that`l be a challenge for us. The boys will recover well and be ready for that when it comes around.
Wednesday arrive with a possible eight players out of the squad with injuries [sounds familiar] with Danny Rhol hoping his team can build on their tough 1-1 draw against Swansea on Good Friday.
We have to think about ourselves and focus on playing our own game. Three points today would still keep us in touching distance of Norwich, who face a Leicester City side with something to prove. Norwich's game after that is an East Anglian derby against fierce rivals Ipswich Town at Carrow Road. It's not all over till it's all over. Like Carrick said before Southampton, he wants us to get to the play-offs or, failing that, to finish strongly going into the summer. We both need the points for different reasons. Let's hope we grasp the nettle and take the three points today at home.
We can do this!
Come On Boro!
r00fie1 01/04/2024
