Ipswich losing 0-2 , now 2-2 and looking good to win the game. 25 minute’s left ☹️☹️
philip
Ipswich not finding a way to win. I spoke too soon 3-3 at the finish.
Now 3-2 to Ipswich. They are the most successful team in scoring in the last 15 minutes. Impressive comeback from looking down and out at half time . 6 minutes left.
Obviously doesn’t change anything - Boro have still to win tomorrow.
philip🤔🤔
Well, I never!! Stoke get a lucky penalty in the last minute, score and it’s 3-3 at the final whistle.
Boro supporters will no doubt take that.
Meanwhile Millwall charge on, winning 1-0 with Coburn scoring again. I understand that they have amassed most points since Christmas and are to be taken seriously.
As always it’s all about winning- draws aren’t a lot of help.
philip👍😁
So wins for Hull and Millwall. Impressive for the Tractor Boys coming from 2-0 down to go 3-2 up, but sickening for them, and great for us, the pottetrs crafted a sneaky last gasp equaliser. So that is their 2 games in hand well andcteuly nullified.
Up to us tomorrow now.
So Millwall beat Derby by 1-0.
Coburn bagged his sixth goal in 13 games to lift the third-placed Lions to just a point behind second-placed Middlesbrough in the Championship.
Derby wasted chances to earn at least a point and, although they remain seventh, they have lost four of their past seven league games.
The visitors went close to equalising in stoppage time when Patrick Agyemang's shot came off the far post.
Up the Boro!
They do score a lot of late goals but interestingly have yet to come from behind to win this season. Their away form is their achilles heel. They only have six away wins this season and they have six away games in their last ten including trips to Norwich and Southampton. Apart from our games the most crucial game of the season is a week on Saturday when Ipswich host Millwall.
That was a tense evening in front of the TV where Son-and-heir was watching Newcastle against Barcelona (and against the referee according to him), seemingly successfully until Barca had a last-gasp penalty to make it 1-1 at FT. Meanwhile I was flicking (on my mobile phone) between Spurs getting hammered at Atletico Madrid (substituting a dismal goalie when it was 3-0 after 17 minutes) and following the Championship scores/table.
I would have settled a deal before kick-off with Ipswich getting only 1 point at Stoke (coincidentally also conceding a penalty with the last kick of the game). IF BORO GETS THREE POINTS tomorrow, the table will look fine with Boro clear in second place with a competitive goal difference, and with fewer games still to play.
It is all about getting to the finishing line in the first two places. A gold or a silver medal will still be PRICELESS.
And clearly Si is really STATTO!
It is relentless playing in the Championship at this time of the season. Every game becomes an almost “must win” or certainly a not lose. I doubt any team can go unbeaten to the season end.
However, browsing the fixture list, I would say that Millwall look to have the best of the run in.
It will be another hard game tomorrow night, aren’t they all, let’s hope KH has another trick up his sleeve.
I went to bed cursing Ipswich's late 'winner' but woke up this morning to see Stoke had equalised in the 6th minute of added time with penalty! That could certainly be an important result providing Boro do the business tonight.
Millwall still not going away but those three consecutive fixtures of away at Ipswich, then at the Boro before hosting Norwich may decide their season - and our of course!
Anyway, Boro really have to win tonight regardless
An early morning observation for you all... I'll call it BUFFERING.
I think it was once written, during one of our promotion campaigns - 1997-98, I believe? - that we found it easy getting to the top of the table but found it rather more difficult to stay there. And that Sir Bobby Robson once implied that, very often in competitions, it goes to the last game, and at one point a team looks like they'll attain their goal with a little ease, not easily, but with one or two points to spare, and before they know it, they're in a battle, in a war.
"Limping over the line"? A last day promotion or title triumph? It's par for the course. Every team wobbles. Every ship bobbles. This doesn't mean I wish to dress up a defeat but merely that I frequently desire a bit more recognition of what we do achieve rather than regularly pondering what we don't.
The 'buffering' title is significant because while it's undeniably wonderful to have breathing space at the top of the table or in the automatic promotion places, it's also more pressurising. It can tempt a team to take their foot off the pedal and therefore lose sight of what took them to that position to begin with, or feel the pressure that suddenly arises with the big prize looking that much more certain. Either way, sloppiness or nerves, or both, can find its way into their play and before they know it the buffer may be gone.
Might it be that it's harder when a team can "afford" to drop points, because that way, they're no longer on their toes? Or might it also be that they've never been in that position before - in other words, clear at the top - and therefore, they struggle to deal with it?
As Blackburn showed in 1994-95, even an eight point lead with six games to go might not be enough, though they gained just enough points to ensure that it was. Sloppiness, nerves, heavy legs, the weight of what they were about to achieve, the fear of failure - I'm sure they all must have played a part. Which means that even seriously ugly wins like that at Everton on April 1 1995 where the home fans booed Blackburn off at the end and Kenny Dalglish was surely more than grateful for Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton's very early goals providing a, well, buffer (there we go again) are so much more vital than they seem.
My hope is that our current setup is far better at handling these kind of pressures.
@werdermouth. I did exactly the same and was surprised and delighted that Stoke grabbed a point; it made up for the despair when Ipswich went in front after being 2-0 down.
I only watched about 20 mins of the game, which for me lacked quality from both sides.
🤞and everything else crossed for tonight. 😎
As an aside, I wonder how Djed Spence will feel about playing in the Championship next year if Spurs get relegated, particularly when we take their place in the top tier. 😉
While the FA Cup dates for the quarter-final ties have not yet been formalised on the FA website yet, it's pretty certain Southampton v Arsenal won't be on Easter Monday given the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals are due to be played on Tue/Wed following Easter. Though BBC now showing their tie will be played on Saturday and the Wrexham game will still be played on Monday - with the Ipswich game now postponed
This means Ipswich will have to play 7 games in 21 days after the International break but Southampton could be facing 8 games in 21 days if they were to get to the semi-final!
As the song goes... "Spurs are on their way to Wembley*..."
* Note: Championship Play-off final 2026-27
EXMIL CHALLENGE 2026 - Part 2
I will publish the next set of fixtures on Saturday night as the first fixture is Monday at 8, I know it will be short notice that is why I will endeavour to get them out on Saturday night when the last Saturday fixture has been played and I have got home from the Riverside, if anyone wants to look at the next set of fixtures themselves in advance, it will include all matches from Monday 16 March to Saturday 11 April (inclusive) you will notice some catch up games are being played in the next set.
Come on BORO.
@martin-bellamy I have read that Juventus are monitoring a move for Spence in the summer so he may not be with Spurs no matter where they are.
Come on BORO.
Belated thanks, Clive, for a typically interesting, well-informed and articulate opener. i was at Uni when the 6-6 game was played, and Cloughie's suspicions proved to be well founded.
The three villains who were convicted were very different characters.
Ken Thompson was a hard as nails centre-half, whom Boro signed from Stoke, on the grounds that he was one of the few defenders that Clough could never get the better of. He was a great servant to the club who gave his all every game. He was actually convicted for betting against his own side in a game when he was at Hartlepool. He claimed that this had not affected his own performance and produced newspaper evidence which said that he had been Pool's man of the match.
Esmond Million was a young lad who had a large female following because he was a Tony Curtis lookalike. His technique for throwing games was to scuff his goal kicks straight at an opposition forward.
Brian Phillips played at centre-back for many years during the 1950s. The fact that for years Clough, Peacock, Day and Holliday were scoring goals for fun, but not quite enough to make up for the regularity with which the defence was letting them in, only began to arouse suspicion many seasons later.
I fancy Boro to win well tonight in spite of Nathan Jones's maniacal touchline performance. I just hope that we do so without Charlton taking out their frustrations on too many of our players' limbs.
Apologies Clive for the late post thanking you for the well put together Headliner, with all the historical information.
I remember watching the Sports Newsreader, reading off the teleprinter scores as they came in.
Charlton 6, well this isn’t going to be a draw on the coupons, Middlesbrough 6. How wrong was he.
Tonight’s game is even more important given we can open up a gap on Ipswich and more importantly stay ahead of the upstarts Millwall.
@lenmasterman - I hope you are right about tonight, Len. I will go for 3-0 in order to cheer up OFB (and because it seems about right for tonight if Boro should be "on song").
Two changes, Malanda for Fry to be expected:
No surprises in team selection.
Browne and Sermiento probably come on and hopefully Castleine can get some minutes on the pitch 👍👍
philip of Huddersfield
Charlton have made five changes including leaving out their best defender Lloyd Jones and replaced with Keenan Gough, age 20, who hasn't played since their third round FA Cup defeat in January and has only made one other start.
Well total dominance but no goal and the odd scare when we get caught on the break; this looks very similar to the Oxford game.
Should have had a penalty and the yellow card should have been red; poor refereeing. 😎
A goal early in the second half would be good to settle all our nerves.
I'm beginning to doubt that this one is going to end up being 6-6 again...
Boro have had all the possession but have created few clear chances with Morris coming the closest he's ever been to scoring a Boro goal after hitting the bar - though looked a decent shout for a penalty after Targett was pushed in the back - certainly more of a foul than most of Charlton's awarded for minimal contact outside the box.
Running at Charlton with pace has been the most effective counter to the low block and maybe it's time to bring on Sarmiento and Munroe to stretch them - especially given a few are on a yellow (orange?).
This display shows that we need a player with some pace as we need to get out from defence much more quickly and try to stretch them a bit more. Sarmiento and Castledine in the second half. They are not a bad team and very well organised. Need be more aggressive on the edge of their box instead of the flicks and back heels.
CJ seems to agree with everybody above:
Goalless at the break, with Boro creating plenty of chances in that first half and dominating possession, but not yet finding that breakthrough. Having started looking keen to counter, Charlton have increasingly dropped deeper and deeper. Brynn had to make one big save. But mainly all Boro. They just need that breakthrough.