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FC BASEL v BORO, UEFA CUP QUARTER-FINAL FIRST LEG, 30-3-06
FULL-TIME MATCH REPORT
It's Boro's twentieth cup match of the season and it's unchartered territory as this is the furthest we have ever been in Europe. But not the furthest we are going if tonight's pre-match optimism was anything to go by.
Steve McClaren went for a 4-4-2 formation with Chris Riggott back in the side and Doriva starting in a central midfield role alongside Ray Parlour.
Schwarzer, Queudrue, Riggott, Pogatetz (Ehiogu 68), Parnaby, Mendieta (Rochemback 71), Parlour, Doriva, Downing, Viduka, Hasselbaink (Yakubu 71)
Jones, Davies, Taylor, Morrison
THE FIRST HALF
Boro started quite brightly in what was arguably the biggest game since Cardiff and although we only gained one clear cut chance in the opening ten minutes, when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink took a speculative shot, we enjoyed the lion's share of the possession and looked quicker all round.
But Basel were not put off by Boro's good start and created moves of their own, two of which made our defence look slightly un-coordinated and unsettled.
On fifteen minutes, one good move from each side gave both a cause for concern as first Jimmy rattled the Basel defence with a scorching free-kick and then Franck Queudrue made a great tackle at the other end to deny Smiljanic.
Franck was the saviour again as he stopped another Basel advance on twenty-four minutes but the challenge was clumsy and David Degen made the most of it and was consequently booked for diving.
Mark Viduka seemed to have recaptured Sunday's form tonight as demonstrated by his neat interplay with Stewey Downing. The pair had provided several good exchanges which had in turn released Mendieta and it was hoped that it would only be a matter of time before this particular move produced a result.
Boro were making several sorties into the Basel half now and Jimmy nearly opened the scoring from fifteen yards when Jimmy got into position but didn't connect properly with a Downing cross. Basel had another man booked with five minutes to go before the break when Majstorovic received a yellow for backing into Franck Queudrue.
As the half-time whistle approached, Boro should have neen feeling quite satisfied that they had restricted Basel to half chance only whilst creating some opportunities of their own but disaster struck with just two minutes to go before the break as Delgado received the ball just inside the box and shot, only for Skippy to see the shot he had covered hit the ground and bounce over his head into the net to give Basel a scant deserved lead.
FC BASEL 1 MIDDLESBROUGH 0 (Delgado 43)
Straight from the restart, Basel won the ball back and took it down thew right side where little resistance was found and the ball reached Degen who found himself one-on-one with Skippy and shot Basel into a two goal lead.
FC BASEL 2 MIDDLESBROUGH 0 (Degen 45)
Boro have a mountain to climb now and need to regroup as fast as possible and get at least one goal back in the second half or this tie could be dead and buried long before the second leg.
THE SECOND HALF
Boro made no changes for the second half and although we made a tentative start, were nearly back in it after four minutes when once gaain Downing crossed for Jimmy to find the ball with his head and send a shot in that was saved by the keeper.
A few minutes later, Chris Riggott collected a Mendieta delivery and struck the crossbar and Boro kept the attacks going as they searched for a lifeline in a tie that was in danger of slipping away.
With fifteen minutes of the half gone, Boro had created little else in the way of scoring chances but had also restricted Basel to a degree where they had created even less.
The best tackle of the game so far came from Sunday's galscorer Stuart Parnaby who made a tie-saving tackle on Delgado but Basel nearly put the tie beyond reach a minute later when Delgado sent in Basel's cleanest shot of the night that went only just wide.
On sxity-eight minutes, Boro were forced into change when Mad-Dog was involved in a clash of heads with Petric and was cut for the second time in two days. This time he was unable to continue and needed stretchering off. He was replaced by Ugo Ehiogu.
Just after the substitution, Basel again nearly scored when the Boro defence went to sleep and allowed Degen in to shoot and luckily, Chris Riggott was the hero this time as he cleared what was a goal all the way off the line.
Boro made their second and third substitutions on seventy-one minutes and switched to a more attacking formation. Fabio Rochemback and Yakubu came on for Gaizka Mendieta and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
Boro continued with the quest for an invaluable goal but seemed suppressed and unable to produce the cutting edge that was required to get back into this first leg.
INTO THE RED ZONE
It seemed to get more difficult for Boro as the minutes ticked by. We were being held off in midfield by a Basel side who were quite rightly content to sit on their lead and hold off a Boro side who had all the pressure on them and had it all to do but were simply not breaking through the midfield quagmire.
That nearly changed with just a couple of minutes to play when a Parnaby header almost trickled over the line but this was one of those nights when it just wasn't going to happen for us.
Yes, we have it all to do in the second leg but yes, we can do it although there is a lot of hard work to get through this week if we are to have any chance at all of progressing to the semi-finals.
Full-Time Whistle: 2136 - Report Online: 2137
BASEL v BORO PROGRAMME SPONSORED BY PLATINUM PLAY
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