20.06 That's it, I'm signing off for now. Feel free to comment on whether you agree or disagree with the below. See you soon!
20.03 THE BEST TWEETS...
untypicalboro: "A scrappy win but back into 3rd and 3 points clear with a third of the season gone. You'd have snapped hands off in August for that."
simoninusa: "I can't help thinking how lucky we are to have Mogga. We would have drawn or lost this under Strachan.... We struggled because we defended too deep and invited them to attack."
mogganaut04: "Need more options up front. Ogbeche is not the answer."
spwright25: "You know it's been a poor match when the crowd getting evacuated gets shown more then any football action."
19.19 No doubt Mogga will say there's still much work to be done... and on tonight's evidence, I definitely agree.
19.17 AND THAT'S IT! A Bonfire night victory for the lads as Boro inflict Watford's fourth successive away defeat on them. It wasn't pretty, we never really looked like adding a second goal, we looked vulnerable for far too long and, on top of all that, our goal should never have stood. But a win's a win - and we'll definitely take that going into the break.
FULL TIME: Boro 1 (McDonald 41'), Watford 0
19.15 YELLOW CARD (Watford): Jonathan Hogg.
19.12 SUBSTITUTION (Watford): Forsyth for Hodson.
19.11 FOUR MINUTES ADDED TIME
19.11 Determined football from Boro leads to Tony Mc winning a corner...
19.10 PHEW. Yeates' delivery was just too long.
19.08 Two and a half minutes left. Very much on the back foot....
19.07 And then he sets the record straight with a fine ball for Robbo, who... slips.
19.06 Awfully naive touch from Marvin there in the area. That's not the Emnes we've known this season...
19.04 YELLOW CARD: Barry Robson. His 7th of the season. Not a good 33rd birthday present (yep, it's in two days...).
19.04 SUBSTITUTION (Watford): Jenkins for Buaben.
19.02 Into the last ten. For me, we're still looking far too vulnerable.
19.00 Ack. I thought Tony Mc had kept it in...
18.57 And Loach spills Bennett's long cross, and... and he spills Tony Mc's cross, and... it's back to the half-way line.
18.56 OOOOHH. Good shot from Emnes following Haroun's deflected pull-back. Too close to Loach though.
18.55 Every time I see Sean Dyche, I get reminded of that semi-final back in 1997... and his goal...
18.54 Good Watford spell. But Hodson balloons it from distance to take the pressure off for a bit.
18.51 SUBSTITUTION. No double for Scott Mc today, alas... But the Bartman, Ogbeche, is getting a chance to prove himself.
18.51 And as I speak... good endeavour from Rhys Williams forces a spillage from Loach to Haroun ten yards out. Alas, he balloons it.
18.50 I applaud all the good Boro pressure, but we're looking very vulnerable.
18.48 SUBSTITUTION (Watford): Beattie for Iwelumo.
18.47 Haroun concedes a corner.
From Lizzayx on Twitter: "Zemmama has gone straight down the tunnel after being brought off. He looks gutted."
18.43 Nothing comes of it. But let's try again... and a half decent spell of pressure from Robbo's 2nd corner ends in a Watford throw deep in their own half.
18.42 On the other hand, Haroun's determination - just seen it there now - has always impressed me. Bennett wins a corner, Robson will take...
18.41 Has Zemmama ever shown himself capable of going for ninety minutes?
18.40 SUBSTITUTION: Zemmama off, Haroun on.
18.39 Good opportunism from Scott Mc, robbing the Watford skipper. Sadly the finish lacked power.
18.38 Good block from Dickinson. Boro living dangerously there. Break was poor, but at least the ball's out of danger.
18.36 Steele showing more nerves of... well... steel in the penalty area. Good sign. Apparently he's been with Boro since the age of 13, that's loyalty for you...
18.33 And... I'm back. Five minutes into the second half, no change to the scoreline. Just found the attendance in 14,366 - thanks barcuicci - very poor.
18.16 Kind of reminiscent of our failure to deliver against Cardiff, in front of the BBC cameras...
From BoroOffside on Twitter: "Is it just me, or do Boro games on TV make you slightly more nervy than normal?"
HALF-TIME Boro 1, Watford 0
18.11 Apologies, Barry Robson... I missed your part in our goal. Although Scott Mc was clearly offside, so that's got to be a let off.
18.10 OOOOHH! Almost a freak goal from Zemmama there... His cross cum shot nearly ending up in the net. Bennett's gone down with a head injury.
18.09 Games will get harder to win as the season goes on... would you take this as a final score?
18.06 A somewhat fortuitous goal, but confidence is flowing through the side... and a smile's on Mogga's face.
18.04 YEEESSSSS! If anyone needed a goal... Scott McDonald, taking advantage of brilliant work by Zemmama, who refused to give up when the ball seemed out of play before delivering the incisive pass. 1-0 Boro. Although that goal had more than a hint of offside about it...
18.02 Good break leads to Tony Mc winning a throw... and again, the cross is over hit.
18.01 OOOH! Close call. Marvellous Marvin just misses an over hit cross. In fairness, Hodson watched it well.
18.00 Half chances at either end, but difficult to tell when a goal's gonna come...
17.55 Turns out it was a false alarm. Never mind, the fans haven't missed a thing.
17.54 Fire at the Riverside? Play's going ahead, but one area of the stadium is being cleared of supporters.
17.51 Size of crowd still a massive cause for concern. It looks especially bad in front of the Sky cameras. Watford come close.
17.50 Disappointing FK from Tony Mc. Not too long ago I proclaimed him a dead-ball specialist...
17.49 Promising break, but again it leads to nothing. All huff and puff with no end product... the last four Harry Potter movies, anyone?
17.48 Counter attacks are going nowhere, Watford look more incisive. Mogga looks... bewildered.
17.45 Another near miss, from a corner, has shown a worrying sign that the tide is beginning to turn.
17.44 Well done Steele... and he hasn't had a save to make yet! Iwelumo was determined to prove a point.
17.43 Yeates took a knock earlier. Nice reminder of his old stamping ground, I guess. I still think he was mistreated at Boro... Mogga could have made something of him.
17.42 Verdict so far... lots of promising pressure, a few chances, but Watford are soaking it all up. This could be another Coventry, where we're made to pay for our wastefulness. Touch wood...
17.40 Great pass from Rhys to Emnes... alas, he forgets about unselfishness and skies it. Robbo was better placed.
17.38 Promising break from the lads... but Tony Mc's foul ends it.
17.37 Last time we were both in the Premier League, the result was a 4-1 Boro win. Wishful thinking that we'll win be the same scoreline. Scott Mc is no Viduka.
17.34 Marvin's also come close. Just heard that it's been more than two years since Watford won here... but as you know, stats count for nothing.
17.30 And just as I type, Scott Mc has a chance. If anyone needed a goal...
17.29 Robbo's recent form has convinced me we could use him as an emergency forward... but only if it came to that! Come to think of it, maybe he could teach Scott McDonald a thing or two?
17.26 Barry Robson has come very close, just firing wide... and now he's forced a save from Loach. We may be favourites, but just two wins at home all season isn't a good omen...
17.24 We're underway. There's quite a few ambitious predictions on the MFC Facebook page, going as far as a 4-0 win with a Marvellous Marvin double. Personally, I think 2-1 would be more realistic.
17.21 And the Power Game starts up... in front of another low crowd. We may be waiting forever for the halcyon days of the 1990's to return.
17.16 Now, now, Tim, let's not get carried away. We've done that too often in the past.
From timmov on Twitter: "All aboard the Mogganaut for 3 more promotion pushing points!"
17.06 For the record, Iwelumo's least favourite moment in front of goal is still fresh in the memory. Relive it here.
17.04 Opposition facts. I wonder what reception Boro old boy Mark Yeates will get? Whether Chris Iwelumo will make another horror miss? And whether Craig Beattie will come back to haunt us? It's all up in the air...
16.57 Teams:
Boro: Steele, McMahon, Williams, Bates, McManus, Bennett, Zemmama, Bailey, Robson, McDonald, Emnes.
Subs: Arca, Martin, Smallwood, Haroun, Ogbeche.
Watford: Loach, Hodson, Dickinson, Mariappa, Nosworthy, Yeates, Buaben, Hogg, Deeney, Iwelumo, Sordell.
Subs: Gilmartin, Mirfin, Forsyth, Jenkins, Beattie.
16.54 Well, I'm sure you're not the only one, Attila, but we'll keep you posted! That's right, thanks to Twitter, radio, television and basically any updating service you can think of, I'm running a live blog here for our evening match against Watford. Remember, this blog is still in its infancy, so I don't know how often I'll be able to do this. But it's worth a try, after all...
From AttilaTheSmog on Twitter: "Absolutely mortified to be missing the match tonight, at a fireworks display. Please keep me posted."
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