@simonfallaha - Promotion with Boro would give Sarmiento a magnificent hat-trick to look back on when his career comes to a close. We haven't seen much of him yet, although enough to see he is an energetic and tricky player who runs directly at the opposition - someone defenders wouldn't be too keen to face.
On the other hand the fact that he has been in two successful (hopefully soon to be three) promotion campaigns but, so far, appears not to have remained with those promoted clubs to join the fight to retain their newly-gained Premier League status, hints that he may be very effective at Champiosnhip level but is NOT considered a good bet in the Premier League.
https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/2026/march/02/match-review--birmingham-city-1-boro-3/
Scroll down to the pictures at the bottom of the article, did anyone else notice that Strelec was wearing a different shirt to the rest of the team, look at pictures 1 & 2 especially.
Come on BORO.
Good spot! Apparently Strelec is wearing the Boro U21 shirt as they can't have gambling sponsors - though if you look at photo number 15 where Strelec is stood behind Riley McGree and in front of Targett, he's wearing the Unibet shirt - so perhaps the kit man picked up the wrong shirt when he changed at HT?
Season 26/27 there will be no Easter Weekend fixtures as FIFA have moved the March International break to include March 28 (Easter Weekend) 😱.
Come on BORO.
@exmil - Never be surprised by ANY decison made by FIFA. The organisation is locked in a long-term competition with UEFA and the International Olympic Committee to determine which can demonstrate both the greatest corruption and greatest incompetence, and in a competition with Hollywood scriptwriters to discover which of them can elicit the most comments along the lines of "this plot is so far-fetched that nobody will believe it!"
The International Cricket Conference has put in an application to join the first competition to make it a Four-Entity contest, hoping to grow it (in the same way that the Rugby Championship started out as England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland but has since expanded).
We have an other loan promotion winner in the squad, Matt Targett was in the Fulham squad promoted in 2018 on loan from Southampton and played in the Play off final.
Holding On: Middlesbrough Maintain Remarkable Championship Record of Keeping Leads
Long may this continue. Up the Boro!
IPSWICH 1 HULL CITY 0
Ipswich were the better team but were made to fight for the victory. They had most of the play but encountered a Hull goalkeeper who was impressive.
Ipswich were better in the second half when Jack Clarke moved as an attacking midfielder from a wing position. He’s always been a tricky player.
Hull were steady and organised and looked a difficult team to beat. A certain Paddy McNair had a solid game at the back.
So, Ipswich move to within 3 points of Boro with a better goal difference. Its all to play for for both teams plus the likes of Millwall who I expected to be unable to keep up with the top 2 or 3 teams.
philip of Huddersfield 🤔🤔🤔
@lenmasterman Len, this is terrific stuff. Exceptional actually.
Particularly this point...
"I remain optimistic, not in spite of, but because of a certain lack of fluency in our football. It was the graft, experience and commitment that saw us through last night."
Reading that, I was reminded of how much more pride I took from our class of 2014-15 beating Norwich 1-0 at their place than from our "big" home wins that same season against Millwall and Ipswich, even though, in those home games, the goals were more plentiful and more slickly crafted. Graft ahead of craft, that feeling that the entire team has gone above and beyond at the right time to keep a dream alive... these games, they're among those you really remember.
I also put the great 1-0 win over Manchester City from early 1998 in that category - it wasn't pretty at all, but when the final whistle went, I couldn't have cared less. Three points, job done, promotion race still on - and, less than two weeks later, Sunderland fell at Ipswich and promotion was back in our hands again.
EXMIL CHALLENGE Part 1 - update
As Port Vale beat Bristol City 1-0 in the FA Cup tonight, their fixture against Coventry on Saturday will go ahead as scheduled, therefore I will not have to adjust anyone’s predictions.
Come on BORO.
Si, may I take this opportunity to thank you for the kindness and generosity of your comments, not only above, but over the course of many years. I frequently come across many of them by accident via the internet and your blog. Coming as they do from one who has such an encyclopedic and insightful knowledge of the Boro they have meant an enormous amount to me over the years. As you well know there is a symbiotic relationship between writers and readers. Without the knowledge that there exists in this forum a sympathetic, intelligent, tolerant and perceptive readership, none of the amazing contributors to this forum, writing at a much higher level than hack journalism, would bother. So thanks again to you and everyone else who has expressed their appreciation.
Both Easter games have been changed for Sky, home game v Millwall is now a 12:30 KO on Good Friday and the away game at Swansea on Easter Monday will be live on Sky football at 5:30 😱
Come on BORO.
@exmil - Thanks for that. Diary suitable amended. Basically it would appear all Boro's games are to be shown live on TV and, if Boro is promoted this season, TV coverage will no doubt grow further in the EPL.
I don’t think OFB is able to do the preview for the QPR game on Saturday, but I can’t recall if anyone has picked it up.
If not, any takers?
I too found that Len's final paragraph really resonated with me.
@forever-dormo. If we do get promoted then I am sure that we will appear on Sky on numerous occasions but when we don’t it is my understanding that there won’t be a live stream to watch; as this is not allowed under PL rules so it will be back to radio commentary and highlights on match of the day. That, to me, is not progress.
I have, however, read somewhere that the PL is to trial their own live streaming of games to Singapore next season under the Premier League plus banner and without a traditional broadcast partner; this may be the forerunner of a more wider streaming service in the fullness of time, which may benefit those of us unable to get to games. 😎
I am another who has been impressed with the commitment seen by the team. To be fair,(just slightly) to our short lived previous manager, there was evidence of that whilst he was in charge.
KH has built on that and it is good to see that we are seeing Boro either hold onto a lead or come back from an opposition goal far more often that I can remember from the last couple of seasons. far too often we knew that if we conceded then heads would drop and we would get anything out of the game.
Not this season although (without seeing the games) I was surprised at our last 2 home games where we could only manage draws. On a positive note, last season, I doubt we would have done that!
The Championship is a strange league and even at this stage Boro and Coventry are not running away with it and Coventry are only just over the 2 points a game average which should guarantee automatic promotion and we are slightly behind that.
Anyway, our next home game will see a full squad of BBDs family making the trip again so a repeat performance of the last time that happened against PNE would be appreciated!
The QPR game is another game that we need to win although I don’t expect it to be easy!
@exmil - Never be surprised by ANY decison made by FIFA. The organisation is locked in a long-term competition with UEFA and the International Olympic Committee to determine which can demonstrate both the greatest corruption and greatest incompetence, and in a competition with Hollywood scriptwriters to discover which of them can elicit the most comments along the lines of "this plot is so far-fetched that nobody will believe it!"
The International Cricket Conference has put in an application to join the first competition to make it a Four-Entity contest, hoping to grow it (in the same way that the Rugby Championship started out as England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland but has since expanded).
FD: perhaps we should add the IOC/IPC to that list in the light of the decision to allow Russian & Belarusian athletes to compete under their respective national flags in the impending Paralympics...
@boro-beckys-dad I myself will carry two particularly fond memories of REBoro. The first, the one and only time I saw them play in the Kitchen Bar, on Culture Night Belfast. The 2-1 win over West Brom where Strelec and Sene scored. The second? I was out reviewing Ottilie (which begins a lengthier run at the Barn Theatre, Cirencester, on March 21) at the Grand Opera House, and deliberately refused to check how we were doing at home to Ipswich. A great play, a great night - and it got better when I checked the score on my phone after I left the theatre. Sadly I had to celebrate alone!
Reflecting on Ottilie has inspired me to re-share some of the words from my own review with you all.
"The questions posed and the issues examined in (the) script are bold and vital. We really feel for... Ottilie, partly because the following of this artistic dream, regardless of the location, the talent and the desire, invites a highly thorny public lifestyle with excessive scrutiny and a threat to a stable identity. In a big way, the safest place for a singer to escape to and express themselves is the stage, but what happens when anxiety and personal life intervenes and both the voice and person are, inevitably, hard hit? The need for artists to be nurtured and guided accordingly has been talked about, but so too has the wisdom and vision that arises from their own path, their own discoveries and their own mistakes."
Looking at that now, I'm thinking my own experience following Boro inspired me when writing that - football, like singing, is an art form, after all, and the pitch is a stage.
Both Easter games have been changed for Sky, home game v Millwall is now a 12:30 KO on Good Friday and the away game at Swansea on Easter Monday will be live on Sky football at 5:30 😱
Come on BORO.
That Swansea game will be tough for the travelling fans. Leaving South Wales at 5.00pm is bad enough but leaving at 7.30pm will make it a long night. Hats off to the travellers.
UTB
@selwynoz I have ordered the BoroLive service for the whole season. That covers the video stream for most matches, I thought. But as ViaPlay have started to broadcast many Boro matches here in Finland now - and the trend in up in the future - I won't see many matches through the BoroLive anymore.
I think the system should have a minimum number of matches available to the BoroLive subscribers. Not that I am complaining. This is happening as we are so successful in the League. So long may it continue.
Up the Boro!
I don’t think OFB is able to do the preview for the QPR game on Saturday, but I can’t recall if anyone has picked it up.
If not, any takers?
I’ll quickly put something together later today.
Si, I had the pleasure of seeing Ottilie Patterson sing with the Chris Barber band, quite a few times in the late 50s-early 60s. The band were frequent visitors to the Boro during that period. She was a frail figure with a very appealing bluesy voice, but she did not appear to be physically suited to the hard life of touring on the road. She became an almost forgotten figure until a documentary on her life appeared a few years ago, and I guess that the play may have arisen from those revelations
I find myself in the same position. I bought BoroLive at the start of the season expecting to see most games on that service. However, I knew that there would be some Boro games blocked and only available to me through BeInConnect who have the rights to the EFL, including of course the Championship, and so I bought that subscription as well.
There is, of course, an upside in that BeIn also have the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, Carabao Cup and some other sports, but the other main benefit is that their live games are available On Demand and so, for example, the QPR game which kicks off at 3.30 am Sydney time is available to me in full when I get up on Monday morning.
UTB