‘When the ref blew for full time.’
And so it was that we took the Boro. Our 1st win at the Riverside, against a side (somehow) still 4 points clear in a play-off spot, in a see-saw game we won against the odds.
1st 25 mins was all Boro. Kieron Dyer looked a worry, whilst their left winger skinned Delap a few times. (Delap was somehow in the Football League Paper’s team of the day). He later got to grips with the job, though not before he was the man on the back post who failed to stop their bloke knocking in the rebound for #2.
Boro manager Mowbray described us as lucky (or at least, them as unlucky). In truth, all 5 goals were lucky/appalling defending. Of course, he made no reference to their jammy goals. The 1st, as Foster was being outpaced, and was nudged so as to fall over, ended with Fozzie desperately sliding the ball towards Steele. However, it went wide of Steele who dived low to his right to pull off a super save, only for Carayol to tap in the rebound. Now, obviously I’m biased, but what p***ed me off most about this goal was that earlier, when Perkins went shoulder to shoulder with an opponent on the HALFWAY line, and the opponent went down, the ref gave a free kick. Identical ‘foul’ and it’s play on and a goal. In a place where it didn’t even matter. Cheers.
Their 2nd, a cross comes in, it deflects off a forward (again, Foster gets the blame on some reports) and Steele again pulls off a decent save. Sadly, it’s nodded home by the bloke not being marked by Delap. 2-1 and we are heading for 3 or 4 at least.
Flitcroft then pulls off his genius. Firstly, he listens to the Marshall and drags off a lacklustre Harewood, but then surprises by removing O’Brien, scorer of the 1st (a half volley deflected over the keeper) and our star midfielder. Injured? Tactical? Dunno, but he sticks on O’Grady (who looks slow, lumbering and strong, on this performance) and Scotland (who looks amazing).
We equalise out of the blue, a long throw by Delap (hurrah!) causing panic and the ball somehow squirming through to Golbourne, free on the back post. He looks like he’s positively bricking it as he realises he might have to kick a ball with his right foot and he nearly lifts it over an empty net. GET IN THERE YOU B******S! I love scoring against this bunch. They’re like a lower league Wednesday. Oh, hang on – Wednesday aren’t in the top division either, are they? Anyway, what I mean is, they think they’re some sort of big team, yet their crowd is as fickle as they come. The rest of the north-east simply mocks them. I digress.
We’re not finished yet tho. O’Grady chases a back pass down. Well, trundles after it. He only perks up when the keeper fails to control it, but, with the turning circle of the Ark Royal (joke c. 1982) he takes an age to turn around, by which time the keeper has dived on it. BACKPASS!!!! Yes, it’s a free kick and after we dummy the taking of it twice, Golbourne lays the ball off for Scotland to rifle it home off a defender. The Reds' hordes go wild!!!! (I feel like I’m writing that every match these days. Long may it continue.)
After 4 goals in half an hour, you’d think there’d be at least one more, but the scoring ends there and, to be honest, if anyone looked more likely to score, it was us. They were getting desperate, leaving holes everywhere, while we counter attacked. Certainly Golbourne wasted a chance to seal it, trying to lay the ball off to someone else cos, yes, he couldn’t kick it with his right foot when free on the edge of the box.
*** Dagnall. Our ‘Luis Suarez’ (David Flitcroft) once again ran the game, taking it to Boro with several mazy runs. O’Brien benefited in the 1st half and Scotland and O’Grady found themselves in promising positions in the 2nd, due to his non-stop antics.
** Scotland. Changed the game when he came on. Big and strong, yet not particularly tall, he reminds me of a more muscular, better goalscoring version of Shipperley. But I’ll tell you what perplexes me (and Professors Stephen Hawking and Brian Cox)…how the hell has ex-Barnsley legend Mick McCarthy given away Scotland on a free while signing Francke Nouble (the very same) for £350k. The world has gone mad. Thanks Mick, we owe you.
* O’Brien. I still maintain he was our best player outside of Dagnall.
Despatches:
Aside from a turn and thump in the 1st half, Harewood was awful. I don’t know how he lasted as long as he did. Hassell came on at 2-3 and the crowd gave him a fantastic ovation. We’re winning away without him and he’s still head and shoulders our most popular player. Though Scotland had a few chants. It was great to see Wiseman and Mellis stuck on the bench too.
Drink du jour: A four pack of Leffe from the Co-op to go with my fish, chips and mushy peas from ‘The Frying Pan’. Well, you’ve gotta celebrate, haven’t you!!??
YOOOOOUUUUU REDDDDDSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ps, this week’s quote comes from my dad. He reckons he’d have settled for a draw all the way up to the ref blowing the final whistle – which he did, after 5 mins of ‘injury’ time (no injuries, but plenty of goals and substitutions, so fair enough).
1st 25 mins was all Boro. Kieron Dyer looked a worry, whilst their left winger skinned Delap a few times. (Delap was somehow in the Football League Paper’s team of the day). He later got to grips with the job, though not before he was the man on the back post who failed to stop their bloke knocking in the rebound for #2.
Boro manager Mowbray described us as lucky (or at least, them as unlucky). In truth, all 5 goals were lucky/appalling defending. Of course, he made no reference to their jammy goals. The 1st, as Foster was being outpaced, and was nudged so as to fall over, ended with Fozzie desperately sliding the ball towards Steele. However, it went wide of Steele who dived low to his right to pull off a super save, only for Carayol to tap in the rebound. Now, obviously I’m biased, but what p***ed me off most about this goal was that earlier, when Perkins went shoulder to shoulder with an opponent on the HALFWAY line, and the opponent went down, the ref gave a free kick. Identical ‘foul’ and it’s play on and a goal. In a place where it didn’t even matter. Cheers.
Their 2nd, a cross comes in, it deflects off a forward (again, Foster gets the blame on some reports) and Steele again pulls off a decent save. Sadly, it’s nodded home by the bloke not being marked by Delap. 2-1 and we are heading for 3 or 4 at least.
Flitcroft then pulls off his genius. Firstly, he listens to the Marshall and drags off a lacklustre Harewood, but then surprises by removing O’Brien, scorer of the 1st (a half volley deflected over the keeper) and our star midfielder. Injured? Tactical? Dunno, but he sticks on O’Grady (who looks slow, lumbering and strong, on this performance) and Scotland (who looks amazing).
We equalise out of the blue, a long throw by Delap (hurrah!) causing panic and the ball somehow squirming through to Golbourne, free on the back post. He looks like he’s positively bricking it as he realises he might have to kick a ball with his right foot and he nearly lifts it over an empty net. GET IN THERE YOU B******S! I love scoring against this bunch. They’re like a lower league Wednesday. Oh, hang on – Wednesday aren’t in the top division either, are they? Anyway, what I mean is, they think they’re some sort of big team, yet their crowd is as fickle as they come. The rest of the north-east simply mocks them. I digress.
We’re not finished yet tho. O’Grady chases a back pass down. Well, trundles after it. He only perks up when the keeper fails to control it, but, with the turning circle of the Ark Royal (joke c. 1982) he takes an age to turn around, by which time the keeper has dived on it. BACKPASS!!!! Yes, it’s a free kick and after we dummy the taking of it twice, Golbourne lays the ball off for Scotland to rifle it home off a defender. The Reds' hordes go wild!!!! (I feel like I’m writing that every match these days. Long may it continue.)
After 4 goals in half an hour, you’d think there’d be at least one more, but the scoring ends there and, to be honest, if anyone looked more likely to score, it was us. They were getting desperate, leaving holes everywhere, while we counter attacked. Certainly Golbourne wasted a chance to seal it, trying to lay the ball off to someone else cos, yes, he couldn’t kick it with his right foot when free on the edge of the box.
*** Dagnall. Our ‘Luis Suarez’ (David Flitcroft) once again ran the game, taking it to Boro with several mazy runs. O’Brien benefited in the 1st half and Scotland and O’Grady found themselves in promising positions in the 2nd, due to his non-stop antics.
** Scotland. Changed the game when he came on. Big and strong, yet not particularly tall, he reminds me of a more muscular, better goalscoring version of Shipperley. But I’ll tell you what perplexes me (and Professors Stephen Hawking and Brian Cox)…how the hell has ex-Barnsley legend Mick McCarthy given away Scotland on a free while signing Francke Nouble (the very same) for £350k. The world has gone mad. Thanks Mick, we owe you.
* O’Brien. I still maintain he was our best player outside of Dagnall.
Despatches:
Aside from a turn and thump in the 1st half, Harewood was awful. I don’t know how he lasted as long as he did. Hassell came on at 2-3 and the crowd gave him a fantastic ovation. We’re winning away without him and he’s still head and shoulders our most popular player. Though Scotland had a few chants. It was great to see Wiseman and Mellis stuck on the bench too.
Drink du jour: A four pack of Leffe from the Co-op to go with my fish, chips and mushy peas from ‘The Frying Pan’. Well, you’ve gotta celebrate, haven’t you!!??
YOOOOOUUUUU REDDDDDSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ps, this week’s quote comes from my dad. He reckons he’d have settled for a draw all the way up to the ref blowing the final whistle – which he did, after 5 mins of ‘injury’ time (no injuries, but plenty of goals and substitutions, so fair enough).
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