@clive-hurren Looking forward to it Clive. It’s great when the games come think and fast.
Unfortunately, given how tight it is at the top and playing catch up with the other teams and having to win the game, does play on one’s nerves. Well it does on mine.
It wasn’t until Browne scored did I relax and truly enjoy the match.
As Len said, we off it a little in the first half with our final pass, but for once we got a little luck. If it had been a EPL match, the first goal would have been ruled out probably for hand ball.
And then we got the penalty, when Conway has not been given them for worse fouls.
However a clean sheet after 13 tries away from home and the first time ever for three London wins, combined with an uplift in the GD.
For me another “Team” win, with Ayling making his presence felt. But Morris has to be MotM, possibly his best game for Boro, and that goal from HH after a super dummy from McGree must have added another couple of mill on his value.
Time to enjoy until another “must win” on Wednesday. Ipswich, Millwall and Hull play Tuesday.
An enjoyable watch on a Monday morning. The pitch looked very slick and well worn particularly on the camera side. Whittaker continually lost his footing and possession on that side first half. Not sure why the pitch was watered both before the game and at half time. As others have said first away clean sheet under KH also first time we have won both halves since November 24 2024 against Hull at home in a 3-1 win. Hopefully Fry's injury is not to serious as he is so much better in the air than Malanda. So onto the midweek fixtures with Millwall playing Derby and Ipswich at Stoke. It looks like Ipswich may have another game in hand before we play them. With Southampton's win in the Cup their game on Good Friday will be postponed and possibly Southampton's away game on Easter Monday at Wrexham as well.
Great win , it's all about the results now, forget who was good who was not at it,
Question lads and lasses , our strikers now or Coburn now , who do you want .
Remember when the Holgate used to sing " Maddren for England" well time we sang " Hackney for England" let the Powers that be know about him
COB
Friends
I can now confirm that Boro are officially safe from relegation for another season. It’s been a close run thing. Phew! 😂😉
There says a voice of experience!
Results going for us today (Sunday).
An excellent win for Boro. Well deserved.
League One side Port Vale stunned Premier League Sunderland as they reached the FA Cup quarter-finals with a hard-fought victory.
It is the first time that Vale, who are currently bottom of the third tier, have made it to the last eight since 1954.
Up the Boro!
HH's stunner:
Beautiful work by TC and then a sublime dummy by McGree that has to be applauded before a touch of class from HH.
Who gets the assist TC or Riley?
UTB
That's an interesting point about Ipswich's game against Southampton being postponed - unless they schedule Southampton's FA Cup game for the Monday. It appears the FA were only considering the Premier League teams when organising the quarter-final draw as seems stupid to schedule it so it could impact on both Easter fixtures for any EFL clubs left in - a schoolboy error!
Either way it certainly wouldn't favour Ipswich if they had to reschedule 2 fixtures between 11 April and the final round on 2 May given there is already one midweek round of games during that period - especially if they ended up needing to win to catch up.
Incidentally, Ipswich's postponed game is against Portsmouth and it can't be played before the international break since Pompey have a Monday game in the only free midweek before the break - so it looks like they likely will be playing 7 games between 11 April and 2 May in 21 days!
@pedro. Yes I found out that holding ones breath has a detrimental affect on ones heart rate.
Everything functioning much better when we scored the second and on cloud nine after the third and fourth.
Is anyone else starting to believe. 🤞😎
@k-p-in-spain - Without wishing to identify too clearly as a Neil Diamond or a Monkees fan, I have to confess that I'M A BELIEVER, and not a trace of doubt in my mind.
If Boro can win their next 2 home games with both Millwall and Ipswich failing to win both of their games then we'd be looking at a 7-8 point gap with 8 to play meaning both would need an extra point per game in comparison - though our games against the pair would need not to be lost!
@werdermouth possibly lots of twists and turns yet to come.
Boro really need to concentrate at each game point, be positive and as KH keeps mentioning, be brave. Hopefully fortune favours the brave.
What I found interesting about our formation on Sunday was the way in which Ayling operated as a kind of quarterback but from the heart of our defence.
He it was who decided if and when the ball was released from the back, whether we went left or right, short or long, determining both the pace and direction of our play in a way that I have never seen from a Boro centre-back before.
When you add to that the best piece of skill in the first half with his flick-on from a corner, and the piece of magic that led to second goal, which decided the match, I thought it was an extraordinary performance that seemed to go largely under the radar as far as the pundits were concerned
Incidentally I thought it pretty appalling that Ayling was sent out to face the music and the TV cameras after the Coventry defeat, after he had given his poorest performance of the season and had been at fault for the first two Coventry goals.
What kind of man management was that? To the casual viewer it might have seemed like an act of retribution. In addition, given Ayling's hesitancy in speaking publicly it did seem particularly insensitive.
Of course, the interview may have been pre-arranged irrespective of the result, but even so in PR terms the whole episode left a very poor impression and should have been better managed
@lenmasterman LA has a hesitancy to talk in public? I wasn’t aware of that - he’s always struck me as someone who’d front up for his mistakes and doesn’t strike me as a social wallflower.
Maybe you’re reading too much into his appearance, Len. Perhaps he was keen to face the press and explain himself. KH hasn’t ever give me the impression that he’s poor at man management - his players seem to like his style and there’s been no sign of player unrest, something that’s not always been true at the club.
@k-p-in-spain - Without wishing to identify too clearly as a Neil Diamond or a Monkees fan, I have to confess that I'M A BELIEVER, and not a trace of doubt in my mind.
ket us hope that we will be celebrating with Red Red Wine and that it will be a Beautiful Noise and that we definitely won’t be Sung Sung Blue at the end!!
@lenmasterman The NE gave him 9 and MotM over HH, who got an 8.
As Martin said, I would be very surprised, very, if KH fed anyone to the wolves.
@martin-bellamy and @lenmasterman - My understanding is that Luke Ayling has a bit of a speech impediment/stutter. As many do, especially when in adulthood, he has found a way to mask or get around the issue but it may still be there in the background, especially at times of stress. I thought I could detect it in his post-match interview referred to by Len, but I had not detected it in the "meet the supporters" event held at Yarm School and which was shown on YouTube - where the first half was taken up with Gary Phillipson interviewing Kim Hellberg and the second half involved Ayling and two other players being interviewed.
In any event I thought Ayling was fine in his interview on Sky. Ayling had a couple of "less than great" games recently, especially against Coventry when a few of his colleagues might have said the same, but he has roared back to form and was clearly excellent at QPR. He deserved a goal for his magnificent skill when lifting the ball onto the bar (the rebound being nodded over the line by Browne for Boro's second goal).
I had thought Ayling was perhaps past his better years but his performances for most of this season suggest that is wrong and that he has turned back the clock by a couple of seasons.
@forever-dormo Thanks for that info. It just shows you don’t always know what’s going on in anyone’s head. We all have our private crosses to bear.
I would never question Kim Hellberg’s man management, most of the interviews I have seen with players they claim it to be one of his many strengths.
Come on BORO.