Something Happened On The Way To Heaven...

It was a very Untypical Boro day, in what was a very good year to be a Boro fan.

When it comes to my own memories of exactly eight years ago, I guess they begin with the final line of Peter Schmeichel’s Carling Cup Final preview in The Sunday Times on February 29, 2004. I still remember it quite vividly, not to mention the resentment I felt when reading it:

“By a height shorter than Juninho, I think the advantage lies with Bolton.”

There you have it - the press writing us off, yet again. Although at the same time, I suppose he had a good point. On our way to the Carling Cup Final, we’d twice needed penalties, once needed extra time – at home to Brighton! – and were fortunate to edge out a deliberately under strength Arsenal side. Would we have beaten them at all had Henry and Pires been playing? That, and before the semi-final we’d only scored three goals in normal time throughout the entire competition. Bolton had netted five in the second leg of their semi final alone.

But I think Schmeichel’s reasoning went beyond that – he knew as well as we did how consistently Boro had flattered to deceive over the years, always pretending to be the next big thing while never being the actual big thing. He must’ve been thinking what we were also thinking – that Boro would repeatedly tantalise their fans with the promise of success, but ultimately, they were doomed to fail.

Until 29/02/04, that is.

In fairness, you really couldn’t bank on Boro, especially not in 2003/04. The team we had back then could battle their way to an impressive victory at Old Trafford, but could also fold limply at home to Blackburn. One was almost as likely as the other, and sure enough, both happened that season.

What people tend to forget is that we had a very good team that year too – in fact, I’m happy to go out on a limb and say that, at full strength, it was the best team that Steve McClaren assembled. Yes, I can still remember my fellow countryman Alan Green laughing at the quality of our team very early on in the season, but he conveniently failed to mention that injuries, suspensions and problems with international clearances had robbed us of numerous key men.

Juninho, everyone’s favourite player (well, almost everyone’s), was playing in front of a midfield he could only have dreamed of playing in during those “halcyon days” of 1997. Gaizka Mendieta was playing his best football for us on the right of midfield, something that he would never quite replicate again following an unfortunate injury later that year. On the left you had Bolo Zenden, the finest attacking midfielder to grace the Riverside Stadium. Joining him was the best defensive midfielder of the Riverside years – all round good guy and fulcrum of the team, George Boateng. Behind him, our Captain Fantastic Gareth Southgate played alongside his favourite defensive partner, Ugo Ehiogu, while either side of them you had the eccentric but excellent Franck Queudrue and the erratic but occasionally brilliant Danny Mills. Luckily for him, this was one of his better days. Add the imposing frame of Mark Schwarzer behind them, prone to dropping the odd clanger but equally capable of redeeming himself with spectacular saves and a strong presence, and you really had a Riverside Dream Team.

Even dependable Doriva, and Joseph Job, who could be magical went he wanted to, were considerable performers. On the bench we had Massimo Maccarone, Michael Ricketts (don’t laugh – he was genuinely good in this game) and this young winger named Stewart Downing. What happened to him? And then there was Matthew Bates and James Morrison, on the fringes of becoming first teamers, while Szilard Nemeth and Jonathan Greening didn’t even make the final sixteen. These were exciting times to be a Boro fan – especially if we could get it right that day.

Reluctant though I am to admit it, kudos is due to Steve McClaren for putting such an impressive side together, though I still look back on that year, and the two years that followed it, with regret. I believe that McClaren could and should have gotten more out of that team. Our victory that day should have been the time for the media to admit that we had proved them wrong as a club. But they wouldn’t admit it. Instead, Boro’s triumph, our moment – became McClaren’s. The media published pictures of him bringing the Carling Cup home and commented on his remarkable triumph in securing our first ever trophy. And he lapped up every second, all while edging a step closer to clinching his beloved England job. Knowing the right people may have allowed him to put good squads together, but it also allowed him to gain more credit than he actually deserved, which, naturally, suited him down to the ground. What if we’d had a manager who not only knew the right people, but was also a better motivator with his heart in the club? (Ah well, one out of three ain’t bad. Just ask Gareth Southgate.)

But anyway, back to my experience of the final itself...

Would you believe, I missed the first ten minutes! Back then, I didn't have Sky where I lived, so I had to head down the road to the nearest recreation club. Hence, I heard Job's goal on the radio (I guess I didn’t expect it to arrive so soon), and arrived at the club just in time to see Zenden take his penalty. When he converted it, albeit fortuitously (yes, I know it shouldn't have stood), I celebrated calmly. There were no Boro fans in the bar, so I had to enjoy what could be my greatest moment as a Boro fan without the necessary atmosphere. It wasn't easy.

But, as we were 2-0 up, I didn't care. Then Schwarzer made his mistake, Bolton were back in the match, and suddenly I was on edge. At least Skippy wasted no time in atoning for that mistake, although I still experienced a genuine heart-in-mouth moment when Per Frandsen’s shot was tipped on to the post!

I have to admit, until the final minute – and Mike Riley’s failure to spot Ugo’s handball – there were no more notable heart-in-mouth moments, even though I couldn’t take my eyes off the match for one second. The reason for that is, for the most part, we really did do our job to perfection in a wonderful, fast-paced final. It was nice to score the fastest goal in a domestic cup final for a change, too (although sadly, John Arne Riise would smash Job’s record a year later).

Boro being Boro, however, didn’t make it easy for themselves, with Mendieta, Juninho and Ricketts all blowing chances to seal it. I still remember holding my head in my hands after watching what should have been the icing on the cake for us. Instead, I was left to count down the final ten seconds of injury time until Mike Riley blew the whistle, Juninho collapsed on the turf in joy, and I nearly collapsed myself… on to the floor of the recreation club in utter disbelief. All eight years of supporting Boro had paid off, and I couldn’t believe what had actually happened. We’d done it.

It had taken 128 years, but at long last, we were going to lift a major trophy – and we had European football to look forward to later that year. The new Boro dream was only just beginning.

February 29, 2004 was memorable not just for the trophy itself, and what it meant to the club, fans and Steve Gibson, but also for being the day we were able to finally shake the “Typical Boro” tag and forget everything that had threatened to derail our dreams over the years. At long last, we could put the “three points” fiasco and everything the likes of Emile Heskey, Steve Claridge, Pontus Kamark, Roberto Di Matteo and Pierre Van Hooijdonk had done to bed. 

And how good did it feel?

Burnt After Reading

"Back to square one."

That's exactly what I felt like saying on Saturday evening, before I went out on the town to wash the taste of defeat out of my mouth.

There isn't much for me to say that hasn't already been said. As is the norm with Boro, we failed to live up to expectations raised by recently resurgent league form. I have never worked out why so few teams can build up your hopes and then shatter them, or, failing that, come close to shattering them, like only the Boro can.

Both West Ham and Birmingham dropped points, leaving us with a great opportunity to consolidate a play-off position and keep alive our admittedly fading hopes of a top two spot. I am aware that Reading were, and still are, the Championship team of the moment, but knowing our propensity for upsetting the form teams this season (see the wins over Cardiff and Hull in December), surely we could have at least expected a close-run contest here?

Turns out it was anything but. Forget our large spells of possession - those were meaningless! All huff and puff with no end product gets you nowhere, and Mogga was clever enough to point that out in his post match discussion (although I'm not sure "not cute enough" are the words I would have used, but you see his point). He must realise by now, though, that this is nothing new for Boro in 2011/12. I have repeatedly clamoured our need for more of a cutting edge this season, because every single member of the current top six has a positive goal difference in double figures (Birmingham's is more than +20, Southampton's is nearly +30). Ours? A miniscule +4.

It didn't help that my fellow countrymen would have been more than happy at how the game turned out. Yes, we were undone by the Irish! Waterford's own Noel Hunt got the first from a flick-on from an Ian Harte cross, while Harte himself netted the second. Perhaps more embarrassing is that Harte comes from the Sean St. Ledger school of defending - his goalscoring and/or assists have always covered up his defensive naivete. Because Sean has never been the best of defenders, really. But wasn't that a cracking defence-splitting pass at Loftus Road?

Our problem is that we share Harte's and St.Ledger's naivete at the back - and we don't have the goalscoring or goal making skills to compensate for it! "Jiffy" made a good point on Anthony Vickers' blog about Mogga not seeming to have passed on "his experience of defending dead ball situations" to the side. He also grumbled at Mogga for preferring Hoyte to Tony McMahon - and again, he makes a very valid point. I know Hoyte has legitimate experience at the top, but why him at the expense of a local lad who doesn't need to prove himself? (His performances in the cup against Sunderland speak volumes.) If Mogga is not careful, Tony Mc could, as Jiffy says, move on to play for "someone who values him" like Andy Taylor did. (Lest we forget, by the time Mogga did appreciate Taylor, it was too late - and with him gone, a club who was once spoilt for choice with left-wingers has none at all.)

Had enough yet? Like Jiffy said, I too question Mogga's logic of playing Emnes in midfield. It nullified his new found effectiveness. Then there's the fact that a financially troubled club like us found up to £2 million to spend on Lukas Jutkiewicz, while a certain Derry man who cost a fifth as much is tearing up Premiership defences for fun just up the road.

What Tony Mowbray has done for Boro has allowed him to get away with a lot, but recent games, such as the Palace bore draw and this undramatic defeat, show how dangerously close his era is to resembling ones we were happy to see the back of.

In 2009/10, whether Southgate or Strachan was in charge, other teams slipping up and victories against Championship minnows conned us into believing we could either win the league or make the play off's. Then a true promotion contender - ironically, Mogga's old team, West Bromwich Albion - turned up to give us a reality check.

I wonder, could Reading be Mogga's WBA? Not quite, as we're still in with a shout of promotion - but it certainly feels like it at the minute.

* * * * *

Coming next on Si's Insights: I reminisce about much, much happier times...

Mardi Gras For Buoyant Boro

Well... we certainly made hard work of that one, didn't we? But how good it feels. A 3-1 away win against a side we would have struggled against under Gordon Strachan. Double Dutch Delight from once-again Marvellous Marvin. A very smartly taken First Boro Goal (for Malaury Martin, read Curtis Main). Successive victories. Five goals in two games. And, a key player has signed a new contract. It's like that spell in August and September, where we won five league games out of seven, all over again.

Fears that Boro would fall as flat as a pancake last night were quashed during the opening ten minutes, which almost saw the consistently improving Lukas Jutkiewicz net a hat-trick. Soon after, we got the lucky break we needed as Rolls Rhys's shot hit Marvin Emnes on the head and flew over the line. He followed it up more than twenty minutes later with a much, much classier strike that suggested that both him - and we - were back in business.

An important aside: I feel his first strike, which he probably knew little about until it went in, is the kind of deflected goal that any striker needs to get their confidence back. But in truth, I saw signs of an Emnes resurgence even before the Forest game. When he came on in the replay against Sunderland, he was running at the defence with real conviction, and didn't seriously put a foot wrong. All he needed to really get going again, I felt, was a goal - and he got it against Forest.

Alas... (you knew that word was coming, didn't you?) we were found wanting at set pieces again minutes later, letting Millwall back into the game with their first effort on goal in the entire match. It's this kind of set-piece marking, coupled with uncharacteristic defensive mistakes (like one from Bates in the second half that nearly saw Millwall equalise) that are as much to blame for our campaign not fulfilling its promise as the thin squad and injuries. Too many draws have seen us fail to keep pace with the top two - yet shockingly, if we win our game in hand we'll only be three points off automatic promotion.

Thankfully, this wasn't one of those "many draws", as we somehow weathered a storm we shouldn't have had to weather to begin with, before wrapping the game up with Curtis Main's first ever Boro goal. No doubt that The Main Man (methinks young Curtis is going to hear that headline a lot now) was delighted, but on reflection, I think Mogga, the squad and the fans were just relieved. Me? I was both relieved and delighted, for the win had put us back in the play-off positions and maintained our new-found momentum. The emergence of Main and the improvement of Jutkiewicz appeared to have strengthened our front line beyond belief. Come to think of it, maybe the fact that he has those two competing for his position has given Marvin a wake-up call...

On to Reading this weekend. And now that they're above us in the table, it will be a much tougher test than the 0-0 draw in October.

* * * * *

As another aside - I know you were all celebrating Pancake Tuesday yesterday, but there's additional cause for celebration today. Opinions of a certain ex-are more varied than you may think - indeed, Anthony Vickers has done his best to debunk the cult surrounding him on a few of his blog posts (here's one of them). And, in fairness, Vic has made some pretty convincing points.

But there's no doubt that said ex-player symbolises, like JJ Abrams' Super 8 and Michel Haznavicius' The Artist - and you might as well have called him an Artist on a football pitch - both the epitome of, and a lament for, a bygone era. In this case, a time when, as Vic said, Boro were "reshaping the dreamscape of possibilities". A time when anything seemed possible.

He played a major part in making me a Boro fan. He gave us so many memorable moments. Who will forget his tears at Elland Road in 1997, or the sight of him collapsing on the pitch at Cardiff in 2004? Certainly not me.

Happy Birthday, Juninho!

Boro's Own "Brady Bunch"

"The Brady Bunch" is not just a cult US sitcom, but also a term coined by Irish journalist John O'Brien. It refers to the players who were unlucky never to play in a major finals for Ireland, be it through poor officiating, injuries or misuse of their abilities. Quite a number of names - among them Jim Beglin, Mark Lawrenson and John Giles - popped up on the list, but the most significant was one Liam Brady. He may have been hailed as "perhaps the most purely talented player ever to emerge in the Republic of Ireland" yet he played no part in Euro '88 or Italia '90. A case can be made that this was due to injury, suspension and age, though the likes of Eamon Dunphy will keep claiming that the real reason was Brady refusing to wholeheartedly adapt to Jack Charlton's long ball tactics. Take your pick.

But anyway...

It's official. Barry Robson is on his way this summer, and I can't say I'm not disappointed to see him go. He has, after all, been a giant amongst our midfield this season, especially when Nicky Bailey hasn't been playing. On the other hand, his 34th birthday is approaching sooner rather than later, and it is probably best that he "quits while he is ahead", so to speak, rather than prolong his Boro career to the point where he is no longer appreciated. It just means that we have to work a little harder to find a good replacement now.

At least Robson has had the chance to establish himself as a cult hero. Others have not been so fortunate.

Yes, Boro have their own "Brady Bunch" - players who I believe never really got the chance to prove their full potential in a Boro shirt. To rub salt into the wound, some of them, though not all, have gone on to more than prove themselves at their future clubs.

Time to remind ourselves of what might have been, then...

Andrew Davies - Always a very useful player, be it under McClaren, Southgate or Mowbray. Injuries and inability to hold down a first team place never helped, though.
Lee Cattermole - The undisputed discovery of the 2005/06 season, and Boro's youngest ever captain. Most of the time, Southgate played him either on the right of midfield or not at all. For the most part, he has thrived in the middle for both Wigan and Sunderland.
Josh Walker -When Southgate called upon this guy, he impressed. He really did. And then there was that goal against Bayern in the UEFA Cup... Unfortunately he was also the victim of both a serious lateral ligament injury (against Sunderland) and Gordon Strachan. There was no logic in axing him so soon after an impressive League Cup display.
Danny Graham - Seeing his goals against Norwich inspired this column. What an inspiration he was for Watford. What a talisman he is for Swansea. What a waste he was at Boro.
Ross Turnbull - Okay, he wasn't enough of a presence in the box, but he was a very good shot stopper - and more reliable than Brad Jones! If only he had actually signed a new deal. If only we had handled his situation better...
James Morrison - An arguably better and more versatile version of his replacement, Gary O'Neil - and he was less expensive too. He's gone on to prove it at West Brom! Ironically, which manager signed him for WBA?
Chris Brunt - Failed to break into the first team at Boro. He didn't even appear as a substitute. Now, he's West Brom's captain and inspiration. His double in the 5-0 Riverside mauling still bites. And, as with Morrison, there's the irony of who signed him for WBA in the first place.
John Johnson - Surely he deserved more of a chance than Strachan gave him?
Nathan Porritt - Maybe he was over hyped, but he must have done something right for Chelsea to notice him...
Stuart Parnaby - It's a bit like the Gary O'Neil situation. As good as Luke Young was, did we really need to sign him? Parns had already proved himself in Europe, and had Boro in his blood.
Malcolm Christie - He always showed promise in training or on the pitch. I can't help but wonder how much more he would have contributed to the cause had two broken legs and a fractured foot not gotten in the way.
Jonathan Greening - Squeezed out by McClaren in favour of Ray Parlour. I still believe Jonno was a more durable player.
Mark Yeates - We were just starting to see the best of him when Strachan dropped him and packed him off to Sheffield United. His Adam Johnson impersonation in the 5-1 win over QPR does leave you wondering, "If only..."

All I can say is, thank heavens something similar didn't happen to Joe Bennett.

Feel free to comment if you think anyone else is worthy of inclusion on this list.

Boro Finally Fell Tricky Trees And End Weeks - No, Years - Of Hurt

We've been waiting for this moment for a long time. And it was well worth it. A cold city in the north* experienced a mixture of elation, relief and occasional uncertainty this Valentine's Night. But said night ended on a high, leaving everyone very happy and looking towards a brighter future.

No, I'm not talking about Derry and the opening of its new Ebrington Square. Though I could be. Because both Derry and Boro have had their fair share of trouble since the turn of the year. However, as a flicker of hope emerged again in the North West of Ireland, so too did one in the North East of England.

It really is impossible to overstate the value of Boro's victory over Nottingham Forest. We've gotten used to good results since Tony Mowbray entered the Boro hotseat - arguably too used to them. Hence it's easy to forget that before Tuesday night, we hadn't won a league game in 2012 - or beaten Forest in a home match since 1973.

What possibly could have inspired us to break such a hoodoo, one that we would have broken last year but for Dele Adebola's intervention (which still stings)? I have a few ideas.

Every Boro striker has their "Tuncay moment". You know the story - we sign a striker who seems to have quite an impressive pedigree, but either (a) he looks lacklustre on his Boro debut or (b) he goes days, or months, without scoring. It makes you wonder what all the fuss was about. But then, he scores a goal that diverts the course of his Boro career. For Tuncay, it was his equaliser against Reading in December 2007. For Lukas Jutkiewicz, well... it was that equaliser against the Mackems. It had to be. Yes, we lost, but I knew that to score a goal during such a well-attended game, against one of our bitterest rivals, would do the world of good for his confidence. And the Juke has built on that with resilient play, a good touch and another "hugely satisfying" (thank you, Andrew Glover), not to mention crucial, goal. It's too early to tell whether or not he will reach double figures by the end of the season, but at the moment, he is filling the void left by Scott McDonald's unfortunate injury very nicely.

I also have a feeling that the players must have been inspired by the return of Bates and Haroun from injury, as well as the imminent return of Robson and Bailey to first team action. It's kind of reminiscent of that never-to-be-forgotten trouncing of Jose Mourinho's champions just over six years ago, where, even though he wasn't playing to begin with, George Boateng's presence on the bench seemed to give the team an extra "kick". As has Jason Steele's form, Marvin Emnes's goal (deflected, schmeflected - think of what it could mean for his form) and the continuing rise of Curtis Main. (Pity he's from Newcastle.)

Of course, however, it did infuriate me that yet again, we insisted on making things difficult for ourselves. What if Adlene Guedioura's thirty-five yarder had gone in? Then there was Kevin Thomson and his sending off. After the Forest match, it's not hard to see why Thomson would enjoy playing for a club like ours - he never seems to make things easy for himself, nor has he consistently fulfilled his supposed potential. He's a perpetual case of "could do better". In short - Typical Boro!

But hey, since when have we done things the easy way? Ah well. We can only hope things will change for the better! And I'd say that after Tuesday night's result - not necessarily the performance - we have every reason to hope.

Onwards and upwards!

* * * * *

*Yes, I know Middlesbrough is not a city. But we'll call it one for the sake of this analogy. Besides, it could well become one in the very near future.

Boro And Ireland Fans Left In The Cold By Deep Freeze

Yesterday was not a good day to be a die-hard Boro fan from the island of Ireland.

Regardless of what was happening, or what may have happened, in yesterday's games, it is impossible not to sympathise with those who paid good money to support their teams on Saturday.

We had heard earlier in the week that icy conditions in both Suffolk and Paris respectively had placed the weekend's big football and rugby matches in jeopardy. (Although to this day, I'm still wondering, as Niall Kelly of The Score put it, how a stadium that is less than twenty years old has no under soil heating.*) To go ahead with one game and to virtually proceed with the other was naivete of the highest order on the part of match officials.

This was another one of those times when the right call was made - but at the wrong time. The real winners here were the transportation companies and sports governing bodies, who stand to make an extra profit from this situation no matter what. The Donegal Democrat's Alan Foley summed it up perfectly on Twitter yesterday: "Michael O'Leary 1, Ireland Fans 0". Meanwhile, Emma Robinson has just found out that Boro fans who had tickets to the cancelled Ipswich games will get half price tickets for the rearranged fixture - but there is no news of any kind of refund. How's that fair? Ah well, more money for the recipients, I guess.

There are those of you who will believe that abandoning yesterday's Boro match was a blessing in disguise, considering our post-Sunderland hangover. But was Ipswich's victory really as "inevitable" as Anthony Vickers has suggested? You can argue that they should have been hammering us, but the bottom line is, they weren't. And had we survived the first half, there's every chance that someone like Andy Halliday could have come on and helped us turn the game - in the exact same manner as last season's Portman Road fixture.

Anyway, it's in the past now. Onto Forest on Tuesday, and here's to ending a hoodoo against a team we haven't beaten at home for nearly forty years...

Si's Insights will return soon with a blog post about several Boro players who could claim to be "screwed over".

* * * * *

* Kelly told me later that he has since learned that the Stade De France was built on an old gasworks site. Hence under soil heating would have been more than a little dangerous. C'est la vie...

Class Tells - But Let's Accentuate The Positive

"You've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and latch onto the affirmative. Don't mess with Mr. In-Between!"

-- Johnny Mercer

So, Martin O'Neill has outfoxed us in the cup again, just like he did fifteen years ago. Only this time, there is no reason for us to feel devastated. In fact, fans are proud of the team tonight. And why shouldn't they be?

Yes, man for man, Sunderland were technically superior to us, so you could argue that it was only a matter of time before class told, even as we played out of our skins. Yes, they were swifter and sharper. Yes, they were less sloppy with their passing. And yes, when we left a couple of gaps open for them, they had players - on this occasion, Colback and Sessegnon - waiting to exploit them ruthlessly. It's enough to leave you wondering how different things might have been if we'd had a full team available.

Or if we'd wrapped up the game when we had the chance, at the Stadium Of Light.

But then, if we'd done so, we wouldn't now be hailing one of the most gallant cup performances from any Boro side in recent times. And I think that was very much due to the communal nature of the display, which saw eight academy graduates - plus a teenager signed on a free from Darlington - take to the field during the course of the evening. The all round strength, spirit and understanding among these players helped them all to play above themselves. In particular, Jason Steele's confidence, the sight of Joe Bennett running with the ball like he used to, Curtis Main's grafting and Adam Reach's crossing can only leave one optimistic.

Better still, our attack may not now be as much as a problem area as I feared it would be. Marvin Emnes is looking like his old self again, despite his lack of fitness, and Main was unlucky not to score. But, most significantly, Lukas Jutkiewicz finally got on the score sheet in a Boro shirt - and it was well worth waiting for. What a well taken goal it was - and it was scored live on national TV, in front of a big Riverside crowd, at a time when I wondered how we would possibly get back into the game. This could be an unprecedented boost for both The Juke's own confidence and the whole team's. (Indeed, I'm not ashamed to admit I over-celebrated a little when the goal went in. But didn't you?)

See, it pays to "accentuate the positive". Now, how about another listen to that song?

Insomnia, Injuries, Irishmen, and the Idiosyncracy of Boro

"Idiosyncracy (Noun) 1. A behaviour or way of thinking that is characteristic of a person.

2. A language or behaviour that is particular to an individual or group."

Those of you who read my tweets during the Crystal Palace match on Saturday afternoon - and no doubt, many of you did - will remember that they were absolutely laced with bitterness. Probably unnecessarily so. But it was certainly how I felt at the time.

It was bad enough that we lost even more key players - Barry Robson, Faris Haroun, Scott McDonald and Marvin Emnes - to the treatment table last week. It was bad enough that we conceded yet another sickening late goal. But to top it all off with something that I felt was more like a cure for insomnia really was the cheap frosting on a half-baked cake. I wasn't the only one who thought that way, either - I got a reply saying that pretty much every single one of our home games since November had followed a similar pattern. And yes, I know we haven't won a single match since Nicky Bailey (must I keep mentioning his name?) limped out of action, but it runs deeper than that. The September "spark", in which Marvin really was Marvellous and we won seven out of nine games in all competitions (with the only draws coming due to the usual late concessions!), has long gone.

It's easy to point the finger at Bailey, but if you think about it, we won just a quarter of our matches stretching from the Carling Cup elimination at Crystal Palace to the West Ham surrender at the end of November. On reflection, such a surrender was probably best for us - we bounced back with four wins and a should-have-been before the end of 2011, and have pretty much coasted on those results ever since. "Coasted" in that despite our recent relegation form, we're somehow still in the play-off places.

It's easy to say that injuries to key players have once again exposed our glory pretense - like they've done so many times over the years - and I'm just not taking it very well. And it's not necessarily Mogga's fault, either. It seems that no matter what manager we've had during the Riverside era - Bryan Robson, Steve McClaren, Gareth Southgate or Tony Mowbray -  we can never fulfil our promise. That is the idiosyncracy of Boro.

No doubt most of you will wish that I could be more optimistic. But all too often, I've had my fingers burnt through hoping that the lads will show that little bit extra mentality and concentration needed to fulfil the Boro promise. One thing I'll give Gordon Strachan credit for is that at least he virtually eliminated the idiosyncracy - it's just a pity he did away with almost everything else we liked about Boro at the same time! (Although we'll always be grateful for Robson, Bailey, McDonald and McManus.)

There are other ways of changing Boro for the better. News from the club and fellow fans tell me we have no money for players. So where were we able to find £1.5 million to spend on Jutkiewicz? Now, don't get me wrong - I like the guy, he's gradually finding his way into the team. But there's another way to bolster the squad that doesn't require quite as much money. And that would be...

Going Irish.

Kevin Doyle joined Reading for £78,000 back in 2005. An injury to Dave Kitson gave him his chance in 2005/06, and he grasped it with both hands, becoming the club's Player Of The Season as they got promoted to the Premiership. Everton's Seamus Coleman, signed for £150,000, was nominated for the PFA Player Of The Year Award in 2011. Derry-born Shane Duffy is just starting to make his name at the same club. 6 ft 3 in David Meyler, signed by Sunderland for just £250,000, is slowly finding his way into the first team again, thanks to Martin O'Neill.

But nothing has vindicated the "going Irish" policy better recently than the remarkable rise of James McClean. He was signed by Sunderland for a mere £350,000 back in 2008, as "one for the future", but he never played under Steve Bruce. Since Martin O'Neill gave him his chance he has gone on to become some kind of an "assist king", setting up goals for the likes of Seb Larsson, Stephane Sessegnon, and - most painfully - Frazier Campbell. (It's Robbo's inability to spot McClean lurking over his shoulder that explains why we're playing again tonight.) He has goalscoring instincts, too, that remind me of a slightly more gifted James Morrison - the kind of player we let go for a ridiculously cheap sum and never really replaced.

So that's the advice for the future. But what can we do about the here and now? Well, of course I was looking forward to tonight's replay after the Stadium Of Light game, but back then, I didn't anticipate the significant injuries.

All the more reason to have a go tonight, though. For after all, what have we got to lose? And we have a young, promising striker of our own ready to prove a point. Perhaps, as Mogga says, Curtis Main can become our James McClean. (Heck, they even rhyme.)

My gut instinct tells me, though, that Mogga may bench him and play Thomson, Smallwood and the returning Arca in the middle, with McMahon and Bennett either side of them. It would probably be best to move Hoyte to left-back, uncomfortable though he is there, and play Bates/Hines as an emergency right back, allowing McManus/Hines/Bates and Williams to play in the centre. That leaves the Juke on his own up front in a 4-5-1, with the option of reverting to a 4-4-2 if Main is brought on.

Of course, I'm still hopeful that Robbo and Emnes can make it, but I'm not counting on it...

Onto tonight then. And kudos to the 25,000+ of you who will be there!

Sucker Punched, Again - Boro's Groundhog Day Complexion

It's Groundhog Day as I write this. Literally. But while many Americans will, as the legendary Bill Murray put it, be preparing themselves for "the excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather", we are faced, yet again, with dealing with our own Groundhog Day complexion. That is to say, trying to halt the repeating cycle of late concessions, missed chances, horrendous gaffes, and unfortunate injuries - again and again and again.

What looked like being a triumphant "Return Of The Mack" - Scott McDonald having scored his ninth goal of the season, and Tony McMahon finally rediscovering his scoring boots in style - turned into a nightmare for both players.

Scotty Mac was forced off with what we later found out was a ligament injury. It will keep him out for weeks. Not fair on him, as he was so close to double figures. Worse still, we need him too - No-Longer-Marvellous Marvin Emnes is resembling a passenger these days, and The Juke is still finding his feet.

And merely minutes after he must have felt like he was on Cloud Nine, Tony Mc suffered a case of the "Barry Robson's" as he underhit a backpass to Jason Steele with Jermaine Beckford lurking. You can pretty much guess what happened next.

How many times have we told you, lads - "If in doubt, kick it out?" Or, more importantly...

Yep - Tony Mc's goal, a free-kick, was scored after 79 minutes, and Beckford's goal came in the last ten minutes. So much for "lessons learned" and all that.

It really is amazing. The smile off my face has not been wiped off so quickly since Liam Miller's freak 35 yarder slowly crept into the net to deny us maximum points in the Tees-Wear Derby in 2007. Mido, Arca and Tuncay had already limped off in a game we’d bossed from start to finish, so it was a real blow.

Admittedly this was a little different. It was an away match against a team we hadn't beaten on their home turf for more than a decade. They deserved their point - Beckford had hit the bar not too long before his goal. And from what I hear on Twitter, most fans seem happy with a point that they would have taken before the game.

But I can't help seeing this as yet another missed opportunity. Our inability to score, defend and do the simplest things when it matters most are costing us dearly. Of course the Moggalution's been great! We're in the play-off places! But there's still that nagging feeling that there could've been so much more. Where's last-minute specialist Tarmo Kink, Leroy Lita or an in-form Marvin Emnes when you need them? (Oh, that's right... gone, gone, and currently non-existent.)

We’ve come so far in the last year and a half that it's no surprise a result such as this, especially considering all our injuries, is pleasing in retrospect. Yet any team that flirts with success for sustained periods of time - like we have this season with the automatic promotion spots - sets a higher standard for itself.

I wonder - how many more draws or narrow defeats will it take before it really is too late to save the season?

Can We Outfox The Foxes - And Save Our Season?

A quick glance at the Championship table tells me my rallying cry from after the Coventry match may have come a little too late. While last month, West Ham and Southampton dropping points in such a fashion (especially the Hammers) may have given us reason to gloat, they're no longer our chief concerns. Another quick glance at the Championship table tells us we're not in the play-off places any more, let alone the automatic promotion spots.

No doubt that all of you will tell me to give the table yet another quick glance and realise that there's only one point between 4th and 8th, and we have a game in hand. But that means there is even less margin for error. Even if we win tonight, Cardiff will still be two points clear of us with a far superior goal difference, and then there will be the matter of the "Big Two" having to drop points again if we are to have any hope of catching up with them...

Is there any reason, therefore, to be overly optimistic about tonight? Kevin Thomson's back in the side, yes, but he hasn't given us cause for celebration. A 'keeper crisis may well force us to plant poor Connor Ripley between the sticks again, and you know what normally happens when that happens. (Although in fairness to Ripley, he's not alone - how many other talented young goalkeepers have suffered when, as in the case of Brad Jones and David De Gea, they have one heck of an act to follow, or, as in the case of Ripley, they're only in the team because no other 'keeper is fit?)

Our league record against Leicester over the years isn't exactly one to shout about either. You have to go as far back as September 2001 to find the last time we beat them away, or later that same season for the last time we beat them at home. (And even then, the first win only came because of two late goals in a game we'd trailed in for more than 70 minutes, and the second win only came because of Frank Sinclair's astonishing own goal from thirty plus yards.) Add in the fact that in four of our last five games against them, we haven't scored at all, and you can see why I'm not expecting too much this evening. Also, they've won their last three games, while, barring cup matches, we've lost our last three. And, of course, we're facing Nigel Pearson, who I'm sure would like nothing better than to put one over his old club.

But, as they did with Sunderland a few days ago, all these facts and statistics might just give us a chance. We have, after all, developed a habit of upsetting the form book over the years. And with Matthew Bates looking something like his best again, Barry Robson running the engine room like his life depends on it (your mistake against the Black Cats is forgiven, Robbo) and Lucas Jutkiewicz slowly starting to find his feet in a Boro shirt, there's no reason why we can't surprise again. Lest we forget, Leicester are 14th in the table too. The unpredictability of this league gives us as much a chance as anyone else. Let's wait and see what happens...

* * *

Finally... as another transfer window closes (and why on earth were games played on the same night? You know that does no good for team morale) another Boro player exits the club. And sadly, none of us is surprised. As I predicted after the Shrewsbury game, it's goodbye for Tarmo Kink, who has just had his contract terminated. When Strach signed him, we all hoped he would add vital creativity and class to both sides of midfield and up front. There were indeed moments of class, not to mention a few very crucial goals, but the trouble is, they were very few and far between. At the end of the day, he was little more than the Estonian Afonso Alves of the Championship - for every moment of magic and classy finish he was capable of, he was just too lightweight for the demands of the league he played in.

So long Tarmo, and better luck at your next club.