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Boro v Huddersfield
 

Boro v Huddersfield

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Tonight’s game is a must win for lots of reasons.

Firstly we must turn around our season and get playing on the front foot.

Secondly if we want to keep NW then the players have got to show they will fight for him. It was interesting to read his guarded comments at the press conference for tonight’s game. He said that things had to change behind the scenes for the club to move forward. Whether he was alluding to the Chief Executive or the recruitment department remains to be seen. It’s interesting that the players brought in during the last transfer were ones that NW had identified and not ones proposed by the MFC recruitment department.

My own opinion is that if Steve Gibson wants him to stay and finish the job next season and build a team to get promotion then things have to change accordingly.

Tonight's result it’s eyeballs 👀 in the Sky time for me.

⚽️⚽️

 

OFB


   
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@lenmasterman

Spot on, Len. As usual.


   
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Powmill-Naemore
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Well. Fletcher and Watmore starting. That is one positive for me already.

Let's hope Bettinelli has a drop in consistency and plays well tonight and we might nick this 2-1.

COB


   
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It would seem that most of posters' prayers have been answered:

Image


   
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My guess is it’s a 4-3-3 with McNair in midfield. Glad to see Fletcher and Watmore, surely our two most likely sources of goals.


   
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Based on the team I’ll go for a mightily optimistic 3-1 win with goals from Fletcher, Watmore and McNair.


   
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Just learned that it was 1986 the last time the terriers won at Boro so what could go wrong! 😎


   
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Powmill-Naemore
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... and Howson has the arm band. Definitely  feeling positive now .


   
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Pffffff. 1-0 down already.

Have to say, Huddersfield have been superb so far and deserve it.


   
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The wheels are well & truly coming off:

Cheap FK conceded on edge of box, Bola foul of Pipa on edge of area, Mbenza sends a great kick dipping over the wall and under the bar. PUnished for a sluggisg start again (0-1, 9mins)


   
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Powmill-Naemore
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... Bettinelli at his consistent worst.

My positivity is deserting me fast, but still on for 2-1....


   
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Boro started with the power and acceleration (and stability on corners) of a Reliant Robin. Look very creaky in a 532 that they haven't managed to make work. Another flabby start


   
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Thankfully Huddersfield haven’t been able to maintain their start and it’s all Boro now.

The next goal is absolutely crucial. If we get it, we can win this. If we don’t, we can’t.


   
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And Watmore scores as I sent the above!


   
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Watmore, nips past O'Brien and Sarr, scythes into the box from the left, rams a curler shot into bottom corner (1-1, 31 mins)


   
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Posted by: @andy-r

And Watmore scores as I sent the above!

Timing is everything 😉


   
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Posted by: @andy-r

And Watmore scores as I sent the above!

The Beeb reckons the goal was scored with the assistance of Isaac Fletcher!  *rolls eyes*


   
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Posted by: @andy-r

Based on the team I’ll go for a mightily optimistic 3-1 win with goals from Fletcher, Watmore and McNair.

Just need that McNair goal now.

Great turnaround after a blistering start from the visitors.


   
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@stircrazy.  Must be Ashley's middle name! 😂😎


   
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Selwynoz
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Finally, the bit of luck that we needed. We had started playing a lot better after a very good start by Huddersfield and we looked like a fairly decent team with Kebano pulling the strings and looking excellent. Then we got a definite penalty. Up came Fletcher and he hit an awful shot. That could have been the moment when it went bad again but the keeper made a meal of it and suddenly we're 2-1 up and everyone is smiling. That moment could turn things round both for the team and for Fletcher. 

Now, we have to bring this game home with a win.

UTB


   
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Philip of Huddersfield
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A very slow start with Boro  players seemingly flat footed and Huddersfield looking much more lively.

Forgot to say Mbenza is good with free kicks just outside the penalty area. Bettinelli was nowhere near the shot and later in the first half looked uncomfortable with a lesser shot.

Fortunately, a very good solo goal from Watmore got the team back in the game although if it had been at the other end of the pitch we would have said it was poor defending.

Huddersfield , just like on Saturday  then went to pieces and it was only a matter of time before they cracked. They are poor defensively .

Fletcher, who so far has been in the pocket of the “old man” Keogh( age 37) ,scored an unconvincing penalty which the goalkeeper should have saved. He usually doesn’t come off his line and when he did was nowhere near the ball when Grant scored but was offside.

Overall, deservidely in the lead at half time. Let’s hope second half starts where the first half finished.

Philip of Huddersfield 


   
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jarkko
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@k-p-in-spain I think we have Isaac in U23 team? UTB!


   
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Phew!


   
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Posted by: @stircrazy

Phew!

What he said


   
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Vic's summary:

FT: 2-1. Massive win. Boro were living dangerously & almost threw away a game that swung wildly. They were punished for a poor start but clawed back with two goals in a spell they bossed but let Hudds off the hook in the 2nd half & almost paid the price.

Watmore's equaliser:

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/12220222/watmores-stunning-strike

This post was modified 3 years ago by Stircrazy

   
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Philip of Huddersfield
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Started the second half well and you got the feeling that if we’d scored when on top then Huddersfield would have folded. Allowed Huddersfield back into the game requiring Bettinelli into a decent save.

Huddersfield looked dangerous when pouring forward in last 20 minutes and Campbell missed a good chance when no defender in sight.

A reckless challenge by McNair resulted in a very dubious red card and, heart in mouth moment,  with a shot on target likely to beat Bettinelli.

Last 10 minutes hanging on with Boro defending far too deep and lucky when Bettinelli fluffed one and Phillips hit the post. Really under the cosh at this stage.

Overall , a battling performance and a massive victory in view of recent results with Watmore the man of the match for Boro.

Philip of Huddersfield 


   
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Vic's star ratings:

It was an erratic match with good spells and bad spells so hard to dish out the stars but I'm going

***  Watmore

**    Hall

*      Bettinelli

(That may be a first in giving Betts one & I've dissed him at times but some big saves at the end & just before HT)


   
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Selwynoz
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We really needed those points. I know that attitudes have changed but I still find it strange to see a good solid tackle that takes the ball being rewarded with a straight red card. He didn't even hit the player. Will we appeal?

I'd give points to Bola who was excellent and that fact explains why Huddersfield spent a lot of of their time attacking down the other side where Fisher found himself out-numbered on quite a few occasions. I'm not sure why that happened. Maybe Kebano spent too much time in the middle. After it went down to ten, it was just a case of us hanging on.

Did I say that we really needed those three points.

UTB

 


   
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I felt the red was harsh but could understand why the officials saw it differently to be honest. From their viewpoint, it could have been deemed as a two-footed challenge that endangered the opponent.

I don’t think it did and some refs may not have have even given a free-kick such was the nature of the challenge but I’d be wary of appealing.


   
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Three points are three points I suppose at the end of the day and that's all that's important, at least in theory. Tonight we saw all that is bad about Boro and then for a thirty five minute purple patch all that is good or at least could be good.

We started off like we played at Derby, slow, lacklustre and nervy. The Huddersfield goal was a beauty, perfectly struck but once again we were a goal down from our own making. The slow ponderous start had cost us. Suddenly the penny dropped and Boro fired into life with Bola, Watmore and Kebano all looking lively and threatening. Howson was like a whirling dervish, battling away and giving up on nothing.

That spell saw some of the best football we have played all season, how we didn't capitalise on it and go in three or four up is beyond me. We were at least treated to one of the finest goals witnessed at the Riverside courtesy of Duncan Watmore skinning Sarr and then going past another defender and having to fend off the determined Sarr again to unleash a strike which nestled into the far corner. Pure class and that alone earned him MOM but his overall contribution apart from the goal was also impressive.

The Boro penalty for a foul on the advancing Fisher enabled Fletcher to bag a goal although his penalty kick did have me wincing when it left his boot. It did eventually just evade the outstretched arms of Schofield in the Terriers goal but it seemed to take an eternity. The tempo throughout was feisty with little quarter given from either side but the Referee never looked in control of any of it and his Brylcream laden assistant was even more detached from what was going on in front of him. Earlier Watmore had been dragged back by the arm for a clear offence which should have resulted in a blatant penalty yet apparently neither official saw anything.

I know we had a discussion on here earlier this week about Officials not getting respect but they make it very hard on themselves with an inability to spot the obvious. Speaking of spotting the obvious I felt McNair's challenge with ten minutes remaining was rash but the resultant free kick was a little harsh. A yellow would have been over the top which his challenge wasn't but to produce a red card was incredible. Usually you have a gut instinct and a sixth sense when you see a tackle that a free kick will be given or a card but I wasn't expecting the free kick being awarded let alone a card.

I was enraged when I saw the Ref reaching for his pocket thinking he was going to produce a yellow but a red left me stunned and I'm sure guaranteed a Neil Warnock welcome as he left the pitch. I can't see any way it won't be overturned on appeal but it could have cost us the game.

Huddersfield were a totally different proposition in the second half when the two young lads came on and mercilessly tortured Fisher and Dijksteel. Fair play to the visitors, they came out fighting after going in reeling which also asks questions of how we had nothing in response to repel them, especially after we tore them apart before the half time whistle.

On a positive we showed that we have the skills and ability to play quick, slick attacking football but we also showed why we have struggled of late all in the space of 90 minutes. Bettinelli still made me nervous, his great palm away across the face of the goal looked more to me like he mishandled it and it spun away but at least he kept it out. I do wish he would catch and stop punching everything as it puts us straight back in trouble.

In the end we clung on, literally, but those officials tonight were worse than woeful. No wonder Warnock loses his composure when faced with repeated incompetence like that.

This post was modified 3 years ago by Redcar Red

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