Boro vs Bristol City at Riverside on Saturday, 14.3.2026 at 12:30 GMT
Sorry for the delay in posting this, but as some of you know, I have retired at the beginning of February. And we, retired persons, are busier now than while at work with many hobbies and late mornings. For the last a couple of days, I have done some decoration work at my daughter’s new house, too!
My first memories of Bristol City are from the late 1970’s. We had subscribed to the Shoot! magazine at the time, and Bristol signed a blond midfielder called Pertti Jantunen in 1979. He was the first Finn playing in the top level in England and it was big news here in Finland. He played only eight matches (1 goal) for the Bristol team in his only season there. Jantunen also played in Sweden on two occasions and 26 times for the Finland National team.
The opposition
Bristol City's primary nickname is The Robins, adopted due to the team's traditional red and white home colours and appearing on the club badge. There are other, less common or historical nicknames, too. Key details regarding their nicknames:
- The Robins: This name became popular around 1926, influenced by the hit song "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along".
- The Cidereds/Cider Army: A nod to the West Country's reputation for cider production.
- The Bristol Babes: Used in the early days of the club, lasting until the late 1940s.
- The Garabaldians: An early nickname referencing the red shirts worn by followers of Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi.
- The Reds: Simple, descriptive nicknames based on their shirt colour
The Bristol club have not been very successful in the past. Their trophy cabinet is nearly as small as the one at the Riverside. Their history is as follows:
- 1x English 2nd tier champion 1905/06
- 1x English 3rd tier champion 2014/15
- 3x Football League Trophy Winner 2014/15, 2002/03, 1985/86
Brissol’s form
The Robins reached the play-offs in the Championship last season. This season, at the end of October 2025 they were fourth in table – just three points behind Boro (with 25 points) in second place.
At the turn of the year, the Robins had dropped to 8th – but still only FOUR points behind Boro. Now – before the Riverside clash on Saturday – Bristol are 12th in the league and whopping 19 points behind the hosts.
The Robins are in a decline. They have won only one of their last six games in the league – that was a 2-3 away win at Hull on 7th February. They have lost all the three League matches since. The three defeats were 2-0 at Leicester this week, 0-2 at home to Coventry and 1-2 to Watford at Aston Gate. In between the three defeats, they lost away to Port Vale by 1-0 in the 4th round of the FA Cup. So, if they were to lose tomorrow, it would be their fourth defeat in a succession.
Now, Bristol City's defensive crisis has deepened as George Tanner has been ruled out for "weeks" with an ankle injury. Tanner played the whole 90 minutes of the 2-0 defeat against Leicester on Tuesday but has since been diagnosed with a tear in his ankle ligament and will miss the trip to Boro as well as games after.
City are already without Rob Dickie and Rob Atkinson, likely for the rest of the season, and with Luke McNally still on the sidelines as he recovers from an anterior cruciate ligament injury, they have just Noah Eile available as a specialist centre-back.
"We will miss the next centre-back for more weeks, it looks at the moment he'll [Tanner] be out and not available for the next few games," Struber told BBC Radio Bristol. He continued: "We have to be more creative ... maybe not every player is in his best position"
On-loan Boro duo, left-back Neto Borges and forward Delano Burgzorg, are also unavailable for Saturday's match due to it being against their parent club. The team "have to be creative" as players will be lining up out of position in the coming games.
Boro’s form
Also, the Boro have their own issues at home – with only two points gained from the possible nine at the Riverside recently. The issue has not been the form but rather the results. At home, Boro have kept the ball for nearly 80 % of the matches. Over the course of the last three home games, Boro have had 75 shots but only 18 on target. Compare that with the three visiting sides who between them have had only 29 shots but 10 on target. The scoring has been a real problem.
Kim Hellberg told us: "And again, it becomes ridiculous. If you told me it’s going to be 34 to 4 in shots and 88 to 7 in touches in the box. I’m going to say, 'oh, thank you very much, that’s perfect'.
"Same thing against Oxford, Leicester. So, this was even more so.
"We are in a business where the result is everything and of course the result is 1-0 to them (Charlton) and that is not good enough and that makes me and everyone in the locker room frustrated."
What has surprised me in the past few home matches is that none of the low-block visitors has made a single mistake under pressure from Boro. They have defended brilliantly and the ball has not landed nicely for Boro to score or deflected into the goal.
Instead, Boro let in a howler against Charlton on Wednesday as the away team only had two attacking opportunities in the whole match. The Addicks spent the rest of the match in their own penalty area.
Bogey to break
Bristol are one of the bogey clubs for Boro. Former Boro stalwart Nigel Pearson was in charge of Bristol City the last time that Boro came out on top. Since then, Boro have failed to win any of the last eight meetings. In fact, Boro have lost the last five clashes, and drawn the previous two, after losing the first one.
Still, the “p” is in our own hands – we are second in the table on merit. I think our luck must turn at home. Especially so, if we score early, the Robins must start to attack and create spaces for us to attack more. So, I will go for a Boro3 for this match.
Finally, my best wishes to Robin for a quick recovery. I hope you, OFB will be able to see your ”cousins from the South” defeated at the Riverside on Saturday. Up the Boro!
Of course, if we beat Bristol City tomorrow, it woud be their fifth defeat in a row. Up the Boro.
Thanks jarkko for a detailed opener which contained some interesting facts, it is true Bristol City is a “bogey” team as we haven’t beaten them since 2021, we must be due a victory. I will take no notice of the reports that Bristol have a defensive “injury” crisis, if I remember correctly Charlton were without their No 1 keeper and missing their first choice center backs, I also remember a manager saying that a certain forward had picked up an injury in training and would be out for a few weeks, then in the next match against Boro, he wasn’t on the bench he started in the first eleven.
I see people are starting to question KH and his coaching staff, tactics and substitutions, I wonder if they would be calling for his head if Boro were in the league position that many on here predicted we would be in at the start of the season, how many had us being second or even in the playoffs, including myself as I had us finishing 12th, therefore no matter where we finish up, I am grateful to KH and his team for a very good season above expectations and would like to see them remain for the next couple of years at least.
Come on BORO.
@exmil We are second in the league with 10 games to go. I am sure Millwall and Ipswich will have some setbacks, too before the season is out.
We will be favourites to finish in top to. Let's enjoy the ride now.
No doubts about the team or the manager. Up the Boro!
A lot of talk about possession of the ball and lots of shots as though that’s good.
Its not if you are not winning games and scoring goals. The coach talked about the high number of shots in the last game as something to be pleased about.
The problem was most shots were not on target, they were half chances as the ball bobbled about in the penalty area and very few clear cut chances , if any , were created. As a result the goalkeeper had very few shots to save. Also Boro lack a true centre forward who is capable of snapping up half chances.
By comparison Charlton with very little possession of the ball had the clearest chance in the first half when a player was clean through and should have scored but Brynn made a good save.
Following the last 3 home performances, 1 goal in 3 games, despite 70% + possession means that away teams have no reason to be fearful of coming to the riverside and will set up to score with a breakaway attack, a corner or two or perhaps a free kick just outside the penalty area.
So Boro need to find a way of creating clear cut chances by being more imaginative and less predictable in how they play and hopefully starting tomorrow.
Philip of Huddersfield
🤔🤔🤔
Thanks for an interesting and informative opener, Jarkko. As ever, you have done fantastically well in a foreign language. Well done!
This game is absolutely a must-win for us, obviously. No more messing. No more missed opportunities to keep our lead on third place. Create more chances and stick a couple of them in that white rectangular thing at the end of the pitch. And for goodness’ sake, shoot when you get the chance.
I would rest Strelec for this one, as I don’t think he’s done enough to warrant a starting spot, as Andy noted on the last thread. In his place I would insert Castledine, who, on the contrary, has earned it, although I hope he’s been having heading practice since Wednesday. I’m not sure I’d start Whittaker either; Sarmiento hasn’t had the chance to do much yet in his limited opportunities, but he offers us something different on the right and doesn’t need to cut inside onto his left foot all the time.
If reports of a defensive crisis at Bristol City are to be believed, then this has to be our best chance of finally beating our biggest bogey team. Then, next week, we’ll have the job of beating our second biggest bogey side in Blackburn. Come on Boro. Don’t let us down.
Great work, Jarkko - I hope you’re enjoying retirement although I know exactly what you mean about being busy. How I ever fitted work in is a mystery to me.
We’ve just arrived in Shropshire to open up the Static - it’s good to be back but not as good as a win would be tomorrow. We’re staying for a minimum of two weeks and possibly three, so my next job is to make sure I can get tv coverage for the upcoming games.
Thanks Jarkko for the splendid introduction, and congratulations as usual on your fine English.
If I could offer two words of consolation after Wednesday night, they would be "Conor Coady".
Up to a couple of years ago he had been one of the most consistent and redoubtable centre-backs in the English game. He has suffered from injuries and somehow has found himself at Charlton. On his day he would have eaten the likes of Whittaker, Strellec et al for breakfast. And that is pretty well what he did to the Boro attack, even finding time from his defensive duties to get in front of his marker (Targett) at the other end and prod in the winning goal.
His heading, blocking, tackling and organising of his defence showed that he had lost none of his warrior-like leadership qualities. The opposition are entitled to defend and we have to admit that lead by Cody Charlton did it very effectively. We can take some consolation from the fact that we will not face a centre-back of his quality again for the rest of the season.
And if we do get promoted I hope the the recruitment team also took note of Coady's considerable qualities. He could be just the kind of experienced Dave MacKay type figure that we might need in facing up to the rigours of the Premier League.
Great Match Preview, @Jarkko. I HOPE that Boro can "come good" tomorrow. An early goal by Boro which would lift the tension and oblige Bristol to come forward at Boro would help. I don't know how often we can keep saying that. If a win is not recorded in this match, confidence will drop away and "fear" on the part of our opponents will disappear. I am full of hope but also quite a lot of trepidation. It will be a nervy early afternoon unless, say it quietly, Boro manages that early goal and hopefully more than one.
#UTB.
Has anyone spotted the bad news for Boro regarding Bristol’s available players ?
Burkzorg , who is yet to show any form and hasn’t fitted into their style of playing isn’t allowed to play. So I’m assuming his replacement will be an improvement.
You will gather he’s not my favourite player !!!
philip of Huddersfield 🤗🤗🤗
You will be pleased to know that Delano Burgzog has played 222 minutes for Bristol City since his transfer, only one start and his only contribution has been 2 yellow cards. They also have ex Boro Midfielder Sam Morsy who as might to be expected has 5 yellow cards in his 10 games.
@mw-in-darwin That’s really interesting. Thanks for the link.
That was a continuation of your constant Headliners Jarrko, well delivered, interesting and lots of information that I did not know.
I will say nothing about tomorrow, other than it is a very must win game, with the crowd baying for blood in they do not see what they want.
All of the chasing pack have easy games tomorrow, apart from Southampton away at Coventry.
Having read the article thought I'd take a look at where our goals have come from. We have scored 38 goals from open play, 12 from set pieces and backing up observations from the last game only 3 on the counter attack and 2 penalties plus 3 own goals. The top set piece teams are Coventry with 23 out of 77, and Millwall 21out of 51. In fact Millwall have only 19 open play goals and have yet to have a penalty awarded. At the defensive end we have conceded the least goals from open play with 15 whilst todays opponents have conceded 35 from open play.
BBC stats:
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Bristol City have won eight of their last 12 away league visits to Middlesbrough (D2 L2), having won just two of their first 30 there.
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Middlesbrough have won their last six home league matches that have kicked off at 12.30pm, scoring 17 goals and only conceding three.
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Bristol City’s Emil Riis has eight goals in nine Championship appearances against Middlesbrough – it’s the most goals any player has netted against them in the division since the 2004-05 rebrand.Hope we can break the hoodoo as both Ipswich and Millwall play teams near the bottom, Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn.
Many thanks Jarkko for squeezing in another very interesting preview from your busy retirement schedule - sounds just as busy as mine. No surprise that the Bristol Babes nickname got ditched a long time ago and Robins has proved more marketable!
I'm fighting off a bug at the moment so I hope a Boro win can be the antidote and there are no more relapses at the Riverside. Only a win will do today with Ipswich playing Sheff Wed and Millwall home to struggling Blackburn.
Just a disapointing 8 points from our last six games has seen the chasing pack close in - Millwall have in contrast 15 points and Coventry a 100% record with 18 points - even a inconsistent Ipswich have 11 points so there can be no slip-ups today.
I think I'd opt for Sarmiento from the start today and that would mean having Strelec in the box in anticipation of crosses.
Fingers crossed!
At least being confined to the sofa while recovering enabled me to get the home page up to date yesterday - can't believe there had been 7 games since I last did it - though quite a few frustrating results in those previous 7 mixed in with three great away displays against Sheff Utd, Birmingham and QPR - maybe Boro are due another '4' today...
Thanks Jarkko for another of your interesting and informative starters, much appreciated.
The news on the Robins reminds me of a well used golfing phrase “beware the injured golfer”; they turn up injured but invariably play well and I fear the same could apply to the Robins.
I suspect that their manager will adopt a similar approach to our last three home opponents and defend in numbers with a view to pinching the points which, given our record against them, is not out of the question.
On paper we should come out on top but………😎
Interesting article:
https://the72.co.uk/2026/03/13/middlesbrough-jeremy-sarmiento-permanent-deal-stance/#
I thought it was a loan deal with a commitment to buy but this article is suggesting it’s an option to buy; based on his performances so far I hope it is the latter, as he has not produced anything worthy of note so far or to justify his fee. 😎
@werdermouth. Hope it’s a quick recovery brought about by a Boro to tonic of three points. Get well soon. 😎