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SPORTING LISBON AWAY 17-3-05
Final whistle: 2137 - Report online: 2139
The View From London
Written by The Wizard of Smog
I watched the game in The Stage Door, Weber St, SE1, near Waterloo. This is the best place to watch Boro, apart from being there, or in The Linthorpe, because it's where non-travelling Middlesbrough Supporters South (MSS) members gather. This means that if Boro are on telly, they'll show it, big screen and sound well up, whether it clashes with Man U, 9/11, or as in this case St Patrick's Day.
On that subject I must say well done to the brewers - the way they've managed to persuade the English that St Pat's is theirs too is one of the great marketing triumphs of the last 10 years or so. Granted they've reduced the celebration to 'Getting Pissed in a Stupid Hat While Listening to Fields of Athenry Day', but still...
Anyhow, the mood before the game among the lads and lasses I spoke to could be summed up as 'we probably won't but we could'. And guess what - we didn't but we could've. When we were presented a goal on a plate and Nemeth and Job sent it back to the kitchen, I think there was a realisation that our hash - to further torment the culinary metaphor - was settled. Howls of anguish, dead-eyed stares and, perhaps most painful to see, some shrugs.
Main yacking topics at half time were:
1. Battling Boro - how proud we were to see the pride and passion of the team. More, much more, of that please fellas!
2. What the fuck goes on at Rockliffe anyway?
3. Really though, what the buggering fuck goes on at Rockliffe?
4. That Rockliffe.you get the idea.
After the game there was a strange mood of... I think proud disappointment is as close as I can get, if that makes sense. There was also agreement in the crowd I was talking to that people should get the fuck off McClaren's back. Yes, he's sometimes more cautious than we'd like but here's the thing - he's won us something, and taken the club on a very creditable first European adventure. Fact: that makes him the most successful (i.e. best) Boro manager, ever. Give the man some credit for fuck's sake. Rant over.
There was also a general view that they were simply better than us, and deserved to win, which I guess is fair. I mean, how good was Doula?!
So that's The Stage Door, good beer, good food (Did I mention the Irish stew? Outstanding.) and a warm welcome for the Smoggy in the Smoke. If you're in London and want to watch Boro you won't do better.
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1026: UP THE BORO MAN has arrived in Lisbon
and is mingling with the locals...
And this week's injured Boro player is...
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink...
Well done to Jimmy who gets to spend some time with some long lost comrades in The Middlesbrough Treatment Room. Work on the extension was going well until three of the builders stepped onto the Hurworth training pitch and their legs suddenly gave way. The medical team are investigating...
The team for tonight...
Schwarzer, McMahon, Riggott, Southgate, Queudrue, Parnaby, Doriva, Zenden, Downing, Job, Nemeth
Jones, Johnson, Wheater, Cooper, Kennedy, Taylor, Graham
FIRST HALF
It's no bullshit time. The talk stops here and it really is 'do or die' now. Never mind all the usual cliched crap about it being a big week for the club. It's either a two goal win or we become another UEFA Cup also-ran. That's the bottom line.
Lisbon had their own injury worries with three first team regulars out but Boro's injury problems are now beyond a joke. Jimmy, Ray Parlour and Michael Reiziger all miss out tonight, joining the treatment room regulars back home...
Boro had trouble assembling a sub's bench tonight as parental permission for some of the occupants to stay up late was required...
Boro kicked off and Doriva got stuck in straight away and Stewey Downing's telling cross found Joseph Job who was unlucky not to be able to get a clean strike on the ball.
Sporting must have known that we were in search of an early goal and were seeking to counter it with their own. But their diving tactics near the six-yard box were not fooling the referee. Nor were they disrupting our flow as we surged forward in search of a leveller.
Boro showed some of the bottle that was required to win this in the early stages. No English club had ever won in this stadium before...
We didn't have it all our own way though as Skippy was forced into making two relatively easy saves from Rui Jorge. But it was nice for him to get a feel of the ball early on.
From the second, Boro swept upfield and Job found Nemeth whose drive was cleared off the line. It was a close call but it wasn't quite enough...
And then a Stewey Downing shot/cross had goalkeeper Ricardo flapping and Boro were showing their authority now.
Downing continued to be a menace to the Sporting defence and he seemed to be totally in command tonight. Yet the first half hour was goalless, albeit with Boro ever so slightly on top.
With ten minutes until the break, Sporting made a tactical substitution. Maybe it was to counter the reaction of the impatient home supporters.
But playing with three at the back gave Lisbon extra impetus and Schwarzer was immediatley tested. No intructions to counter the opposition's new tactics were forthcoming but there are probably no McPhones in Portugal...
Stewey Parnaby nearly broke the deadlock as half time approached. Once again Ricardo flapped but the shot went frustratingly wide.
We actually enjoyed this half as we were in command for most of it and who can write us off now?
Fan Reaction: "We should have been 2-0 up already..."
"Three quick goals at the start of the next half and we'll be sorted. And we can do that!"
THE SECOND HALF...
Boro went at it early on and Job was unlucky not to get a clean shot from a Zenden through ball in the very early stages.
Boro probed with confidence and the feeling that this could be our night was heightened when Ricardo had one of his moments and spilled The Lizard's shot straight to Joseph who only had to bury it into an open net and it was one-nil all the way....
...but he missed...........
Boro took a few minutes to recover from this but when we did compose ourselves, we went at them again and a glorious Downing cross could have made up for the earlier setback if someone had been on the end of it.
Sporting were trying to show off the fancy tricks and skills that foxed us at this stage last week. But we weren't going to fall for that one again and we .
Tony McMahon was taken off and Danny Graham came on, Parnaby moving into the position vacated by McMahon and The Lizard taking over on the right wing.
Lisbon still attacked but Boro defence were composed tonight and it seemed like there was no way through for the Portuguese. Was there a way through for Boro?
We nearly found a way through via Danny Graham who did remarkably well to create a shot from a half chance as we continued to move forward....
REMEMBER THE COUNTER ATTACK!!!!!!!!!!
Despite our battling spirit and our magnificent effort so far, we still went into the final fifteen minutes requiring two goals and without Mark Viduka, it was becoming difficult to see where they would come from.
Perhaps the next substitution would help. Adam Johnson replaced Doriva. Let's hope that the man who nobody had heard of could do the business...
INTO THE RED ZONE...
It's more tense now than you could ever imagine. Our UEFA Cup adventure had ten minutes to run. Unless we can produce two goals...
There were no attacks forthcoming from Boro during the final ten minutes. Skippy was called into action though and he made a world class save from a dead ball situation late on.
Two minutes were added on but it was hypothetical. We were already out with five minutes left...
And in the 90th minute, that was confirmed as Barbosa took the ball along the wing and gave Skippy no chance with the shot. 1-0 on the night and 4-2 on aggregate. We'll be back next year.
Fan Reaction: "We deserved to win that. I'm completely devastated"
"No words can express the disappointment that I feel tonight..."
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