And in typing that, I may have missed the Donny-match kick-off....
@stircrazy - Thanks for that crashing revelation! It's in my diary as a 3pm kick-off. I might very well have picked up the time-change before Saturday but, if not, it could have been grim!
Until looking at the weekend forecast I had been planning to go camping at Leyburn on Thursday until Monday 31st August (ie for a long Bank Holiday weekend). Now, it's possible, if the weather REALLY is as bad as forecast with thunder & lightning, I might decide to stay at home. I had intended to go from camp to the Riverside for the game then go back afterwards. If I'd arrived at my park-up to see people streaming away from the ground I would NOT have been happy.
Dormo, you're welcome. It seems to me that most, if not all, kick-off times are moveable feasts these days, changed on broadcasters' whims!
CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYERS ?
17 minutes gone and nothing positive to report. Passing poor, holding the ball poor, defence looks wide open, everything all to slow. All disjointed.
Surely they can play better than this ?
philip of Huddersfield 👎🤔🤔
Hallelujah! Kyle Joseph opens the scoring with his maiden Boro goal in the 34th minute, assisted by Sarmiento! 🙂
CJ:
That's superb from Joseph. Cross from Sarmiento slightly behind him, but he angles his body and produces an acrobatic finish into the bottom corner. First for the club in some fashion.
A bit of a slow start but Boro got better as the half went on and take a deserved lead into the break.
Would like to see us keep a clean sheet here.
A slow start by Boro but they went through the gears and started to pass and move really well as they got the better of Doncaster - a good goal and hard to see anything but a comfortable win now.
Well we may be winning but from a far from convincing performance and could quiet easily have conceded two goals in the first 12 mins through giving the ball away.
Need a much more solid performance in the second half; our dead ball performance has been appalling and needs much work on. 😎
I came home after the kick-off. And there was a link by @Werdermouth waiting. Two minutes and I was seeing the match. A big thank you for that, Werder. Really appreciated by me!
And now we are winning by 0-1. A great goal and we keep the ball as normally. 65 % possesion as usual.
Let's hope we score another one. Up the Boro!
MPH booked in first-half injury time.
Whittaker has squandered a number of chances, if CJ is to be believed.
You were right about Arfsten - I didn't know he was two-footed and has done quite well down the right. Could be an interesting option but I'm not convinced by Borges as a left back.
HALF TIME . 1-0 TO BORO
Some improvement and a smart finish for the goal. But I’m still not impressed.
What was I hoping for ? The team to come out with all systems blazing, playing with speed, passion and accuracy, closing down the opposition quickly, passing the ball accurately and quickly, playing with conviction and skill clearly superior to their lower division opponents, creating and taking chances and a significant improvement in defending.
i.e. playing like an impressive Championship team capable of challenging for a promotion place.
Am I asking too much !!
philip of Huddersfield 🤔🤔🤔
Best chances when we are getting behind the defence on the outside.Great goal and big credit to Sarmiento for that.
Need to consolidate the lead to allay any anxiety ....
@stircrazy and Dormo. As exmil suggested, download google calendar or other and add the Boro fixtures list. Any changes are automatically added.
Brittain & Morris on for Arfsten & Berhalter in the 57th minute.
64 minutes and Boro need a second goal so they can relax and stroll into the next round of this cup competition.
philip of Huddersfield 🤔🤔🤔
Brittain & Morris on for Arfsten & Berhalter in the 57th minute.
Lanky Will & PHILLIPS on for Jones & Joseph in the 71st minute.
Brittain & Morris on for Arfsten & Berhalter in the 57th minute.
Lanky Will & PHILLIPS on for Jones & Joseph in the 71st minute.
No sooner does he get on the pitch than he scores: Lanky Will in the 78th minute, assisted by Whittaker!
Sarmiento adds a third in the 87th minute, assisted by Phillips! Finally comfortable! Four minutes of injury time.
Hutchinson grabs a consolation goal for Rovers in the second minute of injury time. Shame no clean sheet.
Ashley Phillips was good. Very good.
Did you see his pass for the third goal scored by Sarmiento? Pure class.
And then his block in the end when it looked like stone-wall goal for Donny?
He is an upgrade on Fry. Up the Boro!
Not a great deal to take from the game but a fairly comfortable win in the end. Mildly disappointing to concede at the end though I thought Phillips was fouled
Though it was a changed team, hopefully the game has added a bit of cohesion to the group and useful for the likes of Jones and others to get some minutes.
Who do we want next?
@jarkko he (AP) still clearly not march fit. He was at fault for Doncaster's goal. But I agree with you.
And lastly.
It was nice to see Jones getting 60 min today. He is good, too.
With Malanda, Phillips and Jones fit, I cannot see Ayling starting a match. But he will be an important squad player.
Up the Boro!
Score line of 3-1 is ok but what a sloppy goal to concede.
Philip of Huddersfield 🤔🤔🤔
Well that was an enjoyable game to watch with lots of interplay and one-touch passing and some good goals too! Sarmiento impressed again and beginning to think he's found an end product - even Borges looked good and made some good runs. Also good to see Ashley Philips get on the pitch and even managed Alexander-Arnoldesque assist with a well-weight chip that Sarmiento finished well. A good workout that saw the team looking like it's gelling together and moving the ball well.
The only real positive one could take playing a team well below us in League 1, was the extra match time and minutes for Hellberg to get into his players.
He admits, he does not know his best eleven yet, but that was no excuse for more poor defending when Doncaster could and should have scored before we did.
Then just as I was thinking, well at least we have finally managed a clean sheet, when once more calamity strikes again. Phillips should have had sufficient physicality to deal with the Doncaster lad, but he didn’t. For me he was not fouled.
Hellberg needs to get his head straight and decide on his best available starting eleven. They then need to perform consistently at both ends of the pitch.
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WBA, QPR then Millwall. Tough games and Hellberg needs to get some wins from them, otherwise I don’t think Mr Gibson will be happy, or the fans. Our overall form requires a big improvement.
@pedro - I think l I could do that on my laptop but not on my android mobile phone. When I'm away in the caravan I will always have my mobile phone with me but only very rarely my laptop.
As had been commented, 3-1 away from home to almost any league team is a decent result. A pity about the late goal conceded, which took away the clean sheet. We need to improve but I suspect we will do so. Hopefully without delay as we don't want to be chasing other teams.
Anyway, onwards and upwards! Bring on West Brom!
Dael Fry got his first start tonight. Unfortunately 1 - 6 against Brentford.