It sounds as though Boro is playing like a Tyrannosaurus Rex which has gone vegan. The plants are not very frightened.
I will take credit for THAT!!!! Ayling with a last gasp equaliser!
Sucker punch - for Boro: Ayling in the 96th minute, assisted by Brittain, well past the allotted injury time!
Get in Ayling, that player has been immense all night.
And Callum Britain finally puts a cracking cross in.
As good as a win that in the end.
Sucker punch - for Boro: Ayling in the 96th minute, assisted by Brittain, well past the allotted injury time!
How did we manage that?!!!
Never in doubt
Stoke pushes Boro down into third place - but it could have been worse...
This is a crazy league. A few wins can make a huge difference - we really need three points on Saturday.
Well didn't we just get out of gaol with that one. Get in Luke Ayling. Our player of the match.
We might have dominated but we really are lucky tonight. The forward threat is non existent, with far too many wrong choices in the final third and no incisive movement in or around the box. Birmingham scoring for fun this last few days and they are up next.
We need 3 Luke Aylings on the pitch - best defender, best crosser of the ball and now our goal scorer! What a finale just when it looked all over Brittain made his best cross in a Boro shirt and who was there? Luke Ayling!!!
Sorry correction - Luke Ayling is not our best defender - he's now our only defender...
@stircrazy Stoke, eight goals in two games, they had scored less than us two games ago.
How quickly things can change, I genuinely think we are a good team, just need to click up top and we could have a very good season.
Ayling was immense tonight and the team ended the second half playing much better. There is a good team in there somewhere and its clear that McGree adds a touch of class when he comes on.
Feels like a win.
UTB
@werdermouth hopefully Fry back at the weekend, Edmundson is due back isnt he ? Targett can play centre half i think.
But yes, just let Ayling do it, he was as good as three tonight.
Like a fine wine.
Was it a red ? Maybe biased but I thought it was a heavy touch that he wouldn't have got to and we also had a covering defender coming across but maybe the ref was right.
The equaliser shouldn’t disguise the fact that despite lots of possession - 63%-and a miss by Conway following a mistake by Leicester there was a lack of created chances - only 1 clear cut chance and 4 shots on target and only 6 successful crosses out of 29 attempts.
I’m left with the impression at this stage of the season that the ability of too many attacking players isn’t good enough and the substitutes don’t impact games enough. The exception tonight was McGree.
Clearly the players look as though they put in the effort but the final pass and lack of control of the ball ( Strelic being a good example) is a consistent weakness.
It is now noticeable that there are very few points separating Boro and up to ten teams below them. So a continuation of the points gained recently can see them slide down the table.
Others will no doubt say tonight was a battling Boro performance etc etc.
Philip of Huddersfield 👍☹️👍
@philip-of-huddersfield I will say again Philip, Stoke eight goals in two games, scored less than us two games ago, it just needs to click, just needs to drop, just needs that little bit of luck, Whittakers effort slightly lower, Mcgrees effort just curl a little more, Strelec just squeezes it under the keeper, Conway just lifting it rather than going under the keeper, its just fine margins at the moment, the team has more than enough quality up top
Fattawu should have had a second yellow well before Jones red, Hackney handball was that a penalty ? as i say fine margins, some go your way, some dont.
I am confident that before too long there is going to be a team who will suffer against us.
... Was it a red ? Maybe biased but I thought it was a heavy touch that he wouldn't have got to and we also had a covering defender coming across but maybe the ref was right.
I also wondered if he was really the last player, as you rightly said cover was coming across from the far side and looked at least to be in line when Jones made his challenge. It will be interesting to see if it is appealed.
@powmillnaemore, agree, will be interesting to see if an appeal is submitted
Fattawu should have been off prior too, his challenge on Targett was shocking and he was already on a yellow.
Thanks PJ for your optimism. I very much hope you’re right.
However other teams are starting to pick up points and close the gap on Boro . The quality of play needs to improve to create and then hopefully score goals.
And so to the next game and hopes of scoring and getting 3 points.
philip of Huddersfield
PS Having watched the sending off I believe the referee was correct as I don’t believe the other defender could have got across the pitch to make a tackle.
Harsh red card as the player ran into Jones and he couldn't avoid the collision plus there was a covering defender in the centre that would've challenged him - ref had a poor game tonight as it wasn't a pen either plus he missed several fouls and gave fouls that weren't.
Anyway, Leicester look terrible and devoid of confidence - it's a game Boro should have won but Edwards picked the wrong forwards and then tried out all of them but they all looked like strangers with most of the new signings looking off the pace in the Championship - which is understandable given they hardly get any pitch time.
Whittaker the only forward to score in the last six games and there were his first for the club so no sign of any coherent attacking understanding in the team and if anything several now look low on confidence when in front of goal.
@presidentjump I think I agree about us not being far away although I’m struggling to see who’s going to score. How many of us were confident that Conway would score when he had a one on one with the keeper? (Alan Boksic would have chipped it over him).
Talking of past heroes, here’s a great article about Mark Viduka. If I’d know he had a coffee shop in Zagreb, we’d have gone there for my birthday instead of Split!
@presidentjump Didn’t we say the same thing last season on many an occasion. Apart from the November purple patch, we struggled to score goals and conceded too many. At least the latter has improved.
Defensively we were generally back to our best tonight, apart from one stupid mental aberration from Hackney and Jones taking one for the team. I do think the ref got it right with Jones, as I thought Alfie deliberately fouled Mavididi to stop him breaking through. There were certainly no objections from Jones himself as he went off.
I enjoyed much of our play tonight as we played some lovely football, but it’s very frustrating when it fails to produce chances. I thought Strelec had a better game and more involvement than Conway in the first half and I would have left him on rather than Tommy.
And I’m now more convinced than ever that McGree needs to start. The magnificent Luke Ayling apart, he was our most creative player. Where better to give Riley a longer spell than against Birmingham City? Didn’t we sign him from them? Time for the curse of the ex-player to strike!
@werdermouth It’s very rare that I do not agree with your point of view, however I think it was a penalty, made worse by Hackney’s mistake, and I also think that it was a red card for Jones.
I also think PJ was correct in saying Fattawu should have had a second yellow and a red. Hopefully it will be just a one match ban for Jones. The referee did have a bad game.
However as much as I don’t agree with Edwards chopping and changing his forwards, I just believe that lack of game time is not a good enough excuse for the poor performances by the new players.
At the moment, none of them look anything like good Championship standard, and tonight against a poor Leicester side.
As I said last week, quality was needed not quantity. I really, really hope I am wrong, but I just do not see this lot clicking and scoring a hat full. In fact even scoring is a big ask.
I thought the Hackney handball was outside the area on the replays at the time - anyway, I've done screenshot from the video highlights and it's close but if you consider his knee is on the line then the part of the arm touching the ball appears to be further from his body and probably just outside the box. Either way it was a bit of a stupid thing to do though i think he probably intended to chest it but misjudged the bounce of the ball.
Though having looked at the Jones red card again I think he was just about the last man ahead of Silvera but the striker's last touch was heavy and had kicked the ball quite a way in front of him and would never have got the ball before Brynn. But technically if it was deemed a foul it would probably be unlikely to be overturned as a red card.
btw Rob Edwards was asked about the Wolves job after the game and once again he side-stepped the question with now his wife and daughter being the ones in the know and not him...
"It's the same as, I'd said yesterday and I've just said out there as well, it's my wife and my daughter that keeping me abreast of the situation and I'm just concentrating on this."
It sounds to me he's not ruling it out if Wolves made an official approach - whether they will is another matter but some reports yesterday suggested he was now their main target after O'Neil pulled out - I guess we will discover if there's anything in it during the next few days!
A close call. Mind the linesman was very close by but in wrong direction watching from the side. And the ref was further away. So close call that perhaps they should have been very, very sure it WAS inside.I thought the Hackney handball was outside the area on the replays at the time - anyway, I've done screenshot from the video highlights and it's close but if you consider his knee is on the line then the part of the arm touching the ball appears to be further from his body and probably just outside the box. Either way it was a bit of a stupid thing to do though i think he probably intended to chest it but misjudged the bounce of the ball.
With a hidsight, the ref and linesman could have given a free kick. But no complains from me. It was a foul by Hackney first and foremost.
We did not lose two points because of the ref. We should have scored a couple of goals more on the night. Simples.
Up the Boro!