Very disappointed to see Crooks left out.
@boroexile perhaps it is a case of MC managing his squad with one eye on the Sunderland game on Saturday. Resting Crooks now to be sure to have him on Saturday.
Unusual line-up. Let’s hope it comes off 🤞
@martin-bellamy. It may be something to do with you being in the UK and the club able to stream evening games. They probably want as many fans to pay for a seat in the stadium rather than an armchair ticket.
When I log in from abroad details are often available two/three days ahead of a match and particularly for Saturday games which are only streamed abroad.
Ps Just had an email from MFC to buy a video pass for tonight’s match, they are clearly quite rightly looking to maximise income.😎
@powmillnaemore. I am not surprised by Crooks omission, he looked dead on his feet when he came off on Saturday. 😎
Maybe but tonight is a crucial game. Win and the feel good factor moves on to Sunderland. Lose and the momentum established in the last three games disappears.
@boroexile I know what you mean. We have to trust that MC is playing his cards well.
Hi all,
I went to Ken’s funeral today. When you get to 85 many of your friends and neighbours will no longer be with us / or be unable to travel. This , plus Ken only had a brother and , on Enid’s side only 5 relatives, explained a modest turnout.
The main feature- indeed highlight - was Ken’s eulogy which had been written by Ken , who as expected pointed out that technically you can’t write your own eulogy and so it was a resume of his life. ( he also wrote Enid’ s eulogy)
Having known Ken for 60 years I thought I knew everything about him but he came up with things I didn’t know.
He gave us a precise of his education and career at work before retiring at 52 and then “enjoyed the best years of his life.” A lot of it involved holidays travelling to over 60 different countries as far afield as South Africa, Singapore and Mexico.
His sporting interest was vast including rugby league , his first love, and his beloved Castleford, football and the Boro, golf - going to lots of Opens ( he would have loved Europe’s recent Ryder cup win), cricket- at a local level he used to score for Redcar and watched Yorkshire.
His widest interest was probably music ranging from classical from the Beatles to Beethoven.News to me was he liked ballet and Opera.
So , he was very rounded in his interests and experiences of life. He had a happy life.
What came out a lot was his love of Enid which I can personally testify. He fervently believed that one day he would be re United with her.
So, rest in peace my friend - meanwhile “ come on Boro “ - and tonight do it for Ken.
Philip of Huddersfield
Just seen the the team news, with injuries biting once more. However, that back four gives me the shivers.
@philip-of-huddersfield. Thank you for attending and saying farewell to Ken in a personal capacity and as the Diasboro representative.
Typical of Ken to still have the ability to surprise you despite your long friendship.
One of our own who we are missing already. 😎
Telling comment by CJ (after 28 minutes):
Ironic Boro cheers
Frustration growing as Engel continues to find acres of space on that wing and his team-mates seem reluctant to give him the ball. There's ironic cheers around the ground as they finally do give him it.
Both teams play it safe. Cardiff is a good team. But so is Boro and we started to take control in the final 15 mins. So different to the Watford match. Now no spaces to play the ball in. Few throw-ins and few attacks and fewer corners. But we are playing well, anyway.
Up the Boro!
Boro looked quite disjointed for the first 25 minutes, which given the changes wasn't surprising and their passing wasn't as crisp as at the weekend. Though Cardiff look solid and didn't leave much space for Boro to pass it out of defence and much of the time both sides canceled each other out.
Still, gradually McGree started to work out where to find the space between the lines and Hackney and Barlasser began to find some passes. Greenwood also came into the game and looked sharp at times with Engel also providing an outlet out wide but usually played it safe but became a little more adventurous as the half progressed.
Signs that Boro are on top but this doesn't look like a game that will see many goals and hopefully as players tire it will open up a bit more.
@philip-of-huddersfield Thank you so much for that Philip, echoing KP’s post.
@werdermouth Agree Werder. Engel getting in spaces for the ball, then tends to play safe, passing it back. To be fair, given his last match, I would play safe.
Cardiff have had two really good chances, Boro only half chances. We need to step up the passing pace, as we allow Cardiff to defend in numbers.
CJ's assessment of the first half:
Not much to write about in that first half. It's been a poor first half. Cardiff sit with ten men behind the ball and make themselves hard to break down. Boro enjoy possession to the final third, but just lack the quality and invention to create chances. Boro need to be braver and less predictable on the ball after the break if they are to find a way here.
No changes after the break.
Jones gives Boro the lead in the 56th minute with a little help from Coburn, not to mention Engel. 🙂
Engel making the assist...well well well .
CoB
Boro up to 16th in the table as things stand.
Forss & ELL on for Coburn & Jones in the 70th minute.
ELL makes it 2-0 in the 84th minute, assisted by Forss...
Crooks & Rogers on for McGree & Greenwood in the 86th minute.
First half not good - by both teams.
Boro better in the second half and got better as the game progressed. Deserved to win. Bit unlucky not to score more goals.
However, 2-0 - I’ll take that every day of the week.
Philip of Huddersfield
Engel is the MoM nominated by Maddo at BBC. Well done lad.
Excellent result. Well done, Boro. Up the Boro!
2-0! 🙂 Is that Dieng's first clean sheet? Corner turned?
A very uninspiring opening, but once half the Borovteam got over the shock of starting a game they started to look a little more coherent as the half wore on.
Much better all around in the second half and deservered to win. Pleased for Engel who started to contribute on the left and some good interplay with McGree and making the first goal of course. Intelligent use of the subs to get more of the new comers involved and in the case of LL to get on the score sheet. Not to forget that, despite still looking a little vulnerable at the back, we have a clean sheet at last.
Lots of positives considering the somewhat makeshift composition of the lineup and having to go with players we all think are a little suspect.
4 wins on the spin. Sunderland will be a much bigger challenge, but all in all for now that is a great result thay we had to work hard for.
Very satisfying.
Another well-deserved win for Boro where I think it was a game where the players had to work out how to play against Cardiff. It was also game where some of the new signings have also worked out how to play much better or in Engel's case it was like having a new signing 😉
Engel did excellently to create the first goal and suddenly started looking like the left-back we needed - he must have done a lot of hard work on the training pitch to get his game up a few levels and congratulations to him on that performance. Plus another player looking more confident when he came on was Latte Lath, who has added some composure to his game and looks more confident in front of goal after scoring again.
I think I would have given MoM to McGree though as I thought he was instrumental in finding a way to find the space and got Boro to start asking questions of the Cardiff defence - he was aided by the midfield duo of Barlasser and Hackney who is simply calm under pressure and manages most of the time to break out from tight marking.
So a different kind of performance than against Watford but a solid one with another clean sheet that starts to build momentum and climb the table after a quite disastrous start. Well done to the players and coaching staff for improving the way the team has played and hopefully it can continue further!
I forgot to mention Boro up to 16th now and incredibly only 5 points off the play-offs with 108 points still to play for!
I forgot to mention Boro up to 16th now and incredibly only 5 points off the play-offs with 108 points still to play for!
And the goal difference has been reduced to -5.
An excellent win and three more points. The team stuck at it, rode their luck a little, against a couple of chances Cardiff should have made more of possibly.
But we got there in the end, finishing the game with a flourish as Cardiffs heads went down.
Hopefully we have been wrong about a couple of the new players, however still lots to prove. Let us see if we can match Sunderland’s pace, and for MC to get one over on TM.