Two changes: Fry & Strelec in the starting XI for HH & Sarmiento -
P.S. Whittaker's apparently injured!
Looks like the 3-4-1-2 that KH successfully deployed at Birmingham not too long ago.
I’m home alone for this one, although strictly speaking I’m at our static van in South Shropshire (second home?) and Ralf is around, although he’s sulking because his Mum has gone off to Brierley Hill to meet up with granddaughters at Build-a-Bear.
Fortunately I’ve managed to get a refurbished mobile router working so I’ll be able to watch via Skysports on the tv.
A win is a must today and as a bonus it would be ideal if Ipswich and Millwall play out a draw. How much we’ll miss HH is a big question - we should be good enough without him but we all know about Blackburn’s bogey club reputation.
For what it's worth, the Ipswich vs Millwall match is being shown live on ITV1...
Let’s hope Boro don’t let the 7000 down
Probably a change in shape dictated by not having Hackney so Boro may look to play some longer balls for the front two to run onto.
Boro making chances, but nor clear cut. Passing through the lines needs to improve though, especially Morris
Ayling, who might well have scored in the fifth minute, is booked in the 24th!
If only the kit man had packed Boro's shooting boots for the trip to Blackburn then they would've been out of sight by half-time - too many decent chances squandered in a game Boro should be leading. As it it, Boro currently down to third with Ipswich leading against Millwall. We just need to put the ball in the net as it is a dominant display!
CJ on a Strelec effort in the dying seconds of the first half:
Superb save to deny Strelec
Boro's best move of the half. Conway gets away down the left, beats his man to the byline and fires across the box. It reaches Strelec, who wraps his boot around it to fire goalwards, but he didn't get it enough away from Toth, who reacts well to save it brilliantly.
@stircrazy I just could not understand the Ayling booking, it was Cashin who made the foul. Then later in the game Casin once more makes two fouls on Browne, the second gets a free kick but no booking. Rubbish inconsistent refereeing.
A top performance so far in a lot of ways and yet I’m furious with frustration!
A complete lack of ruthlessness and composure in front goal is killing us again.
If it continues and we get nothing from the game then we deserve nothing - you have to put those chances away.
Come on lads.
More of the same, so far, in this game. It is a good thing Boro doesn't give the Opponents this much possession and this many opportunities . They'd score!
@werdermouth Yes, once more most of the possession, most of the chances, how many has Browne had, not all clear cut I accept, but enough to be two up at least.
The passing has not been good enough either. I also just cannot understand Morris, a good player, but he just cannot hit the target, he’s a professional footballer after all.
Blackburn will get one or two chances in the second half, and to be honest I cannot see Boro scoring two if they do score.
Not win this and it could be beginning of the end sadly.
This has a familiar look and feel to it of recent home games and sadly it could be the beginning of the end to our season unless we score in the second half and hold on. 😎
CJ's thoughts on the first half, echoing the comments above:
Same old problems for Boro so far. They've had all the ball, but they're just not ruthless enough. A few decent chances well saved by Toth (Ayling and Strelec's in particular). But the bigger ones have been the ones they wasted. Morris in behind fired wide. Conway and Browne played in behind and were let down by their first touch before being crowded out when they should have been through on goal.
Maddo quoted on the Beeb's live text commentary, also lamenting Boro's failure to take chances:
It is hard to see what more Middlesbrough can do, apart from take their chances.
Kim Hellberg has done everything he can do and he has mixed it up with how they play, getting Luke Ayling out on the wing and pushing the centre-halves up the pitch.
Boro have been a joy to watch and at the end of the day it is about getting the ball in the back of the net. There have been some chances to put this game out of sight, and we should probably be at least 2-0 up.
For what it's worth, the Ipswich vs Millwall match is being shown live on ITV1...
The Tractor Boys were a goal up at half-time, but a certain Mr Coburn has just equalised for Millwall, his eighth of the season...
We need some players to run at Blackburn - Sarmiento and Castledine or Hansen...
We need some players to run at Blackburn - Sarmiento and Castledine or Hansen...
Castledine on for Ayling in the 68th minute.
Adam Lanigan in the Beeb's commentary:
Boro getting anxious
Middlesbrough fans have really turned up the noise in the last few minutes and their team needs it. They have really toiled in the first 15 minutes of this half.
Blackburn are being penned back, but you can sense a bit of anxiety in Boro's play. A goal feels like it would be absolutely priceless.
Only 15 minutes left to get a goal now - Boro need to raise the tempo!
I have to agree entirely with Andy, this has to be the most frustrating game I have seen this season. We have more forward players than you can count on both hands, yet the quality brought in by Mr Scott and the Recruitment Team has been abysmal, which is why we will not get promoted.
Toothless.
Ah well! At least it was a clean sheet & Ipswich/Millwall finished 1-1...
Once again another missed opportunity against a poor Blackburn side - a game Boro created enough decent chances to win but players either opted for another pass when a shot was the better option or mis-hit their shot. No damage done with Ipswich and Millwall drawing but really that's now 11 dropped points in recent games that should've been won comfortably and then promotion would have been all but sealed!
Agent Josh Coburn, thank you for the equaliser at Ipswich. That helped us a lot. Up the Boro!
I have to agree entirely with Andy, this has to be the most frustrating game I have seen this season. We have more forward players than you can count on both hands, yet the quality brought in by Mr Scott and the Recruitment Team has been abysmal, which is why we will not get promoted.
Crikey, that’s a bit negative. “Why we will not get promoted”, seems a bit harsh - of course we’re disappointed. but I’m not ready to give in yet. It’s still in our hands, after all, despite the loss of one manager and the appointment of a complete rookie (to English football, at least).
I’m not complaining about the managerial choice - surely someone deserves praise for taking a chance on him.
I'll continue to "never say never".
The facts are, we are still in second place with seven games to go - thank you kindly, Josh Coburn - and we now have time off for many, if not all, of the squad to reflect, recharge and heal. Including Hayden Hackney.
But the feeling of another huge lifeboat sailing past while we are treading the automatic promotion waters is more than likely to be sinking in. Especially as the narrative of this game reads as an all-too-familiar one that I've been reading since we lost 3-0 to Coventry in December 1996, and that's three decades ago! That being...
"Middlesbrough, as usual, had plenty of possession but not much luck in front of goal..."
When the final whistle went in Blackburn and Ipswich, my feeling was not one of delight. It was one of relief. While also contemplating, how many more of these chances are going to slip away before, say, the depth of Ipswich's squad and their promotion winning experience - they can bring Chuba Akpom off the bench! - catches up with and overtakes us?
I don't dwell too much on their game in hand as we still have to play them. A bigger worry is that they are scoring goals and we aren't, at least not at the most crucial times - KHBoro have been troubled by a series of binary negatives, and not just at home - 0-0, 0-1, 0-1, 0-0, 1-1, 0-1, 1-1, 0-0. (Homes in red.) The kind of games that are very hard to build momentum on. The kind of games that are especially dispiriting when you seem to do everything right and yet nothing falls your way when you most need it to. To borrow Roy Keane's words, again, you do make your own luck, but you still need a few breaks and too often it seems like we aren't getting any.
Others will see a team that once looked commanding, vibrant and unstoppable now seeming turgid, cagey and blunt. And again, deja vu is there! Even when we were two points off the top with five games remaining in 2014-15, there were thoughts that we'd "blown it" after no longer having the title in our hands.
There are also echoes of when we drew 1-1 at home to Blackburn during our last successful promotion season. After that game, we were still excellently placed - second behind Hull only on goal difference. But this followed one point from nine and the loss of a six point lead with a game in hand. It was said that a last minute Rovers winner, and that wasn't impossible today either, would have had Boro in meltdown - our high levels of anxiety during these moments seem unprecedented and can't help but contribute to what is, to be fair, a natural dip in form.
It's why I feel for the fans. I can say "don't panic, look where we still are" as many times as I like from a distance but it is the travelling support and home support's full on positive engagement in our endeavours that will play a big part in getting us over the line, and our finishing isn't giving them reason to believe in the here and now, whatever we've achieved as a whole.
It's also why I'm beginning to wonder if my practising of "Angel Eyes" was the right comparison to make to our finishing, however well-intentioned. For even if someone masters a song eventually, the amount of attempts they required over a period of time taken needs to be considered, along with the consideration that they may well have only practised the song when it suited them.
This is relevant because the right time to find the right circumstances, the right mood, the right finishing and the right mindset just might not always be there, especially when every goal and every point really counts.
It's going to be a bumpy ride. Fingers crossed that the road turns smooth again soon.