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BLACKBURN v BORO, PREMIER LEAGUE, 18th MARCH 2006
It was important for Boro to keep their feet on the ground today after Wednesday night's win in Rome and with ten points between ourselves and the trapdoor and an FA Cup quarter-final next Thursday, Steve McClaren rang the changes.
A 4-5-1 formation was employed with Mark Viduka up-front by himself and Ray Parlour, James Morrison and Fabio Rochemback all making returns.
Schwarzer, Queudrue, Riggott (Pogatetz 45), Ehiogu, Davies, Johnson (Taylor 45), Rochemback, Parlour (Yakubu 45), Boateng, Morrison, Viduka
Jones, Doriva
THE FIRST HALF
Boro again started the match brightly and looked to create opportunities but it was clear ten minutes that we would be up against it today as the obvious threat of Bellamy became quickly apparent.
Freidel had saved well from Morrison after just sixty seconds but that was the only shot that Boro had in that opening period.
Blackburn's first on target came on eleven minutes as Bellamy took the ball down the right side and absolutely left Chris Riggott for dead before driving the ball into the bottom right hand corner. A terrible start for Boro.
BLACKBURN 1 MIDDLESBROUGH 0 (Bellamy 11)
Blackburn simply went for the throat after that and were almost two-nil up two minutes later as Pongolle sent in a shot that almost had Skippy beaten.
Boro began to regain some composure when play restarted and very nearly got back into it with a crashing thirty-yard strike from James Morrison that dropped onto the roof of the net. Less than a minute later it was Morrison again who was the playmaker and this time he got the result his efforts deserved as Mark Viduka collected and smashed home to put Boro right back in it.
BLACKBURN 1 MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Viduka 17)
Blackburn's defence seemed to collapse after that and three minutes after his goal, Viduka could have had a hat-trick in the bag as Boro tore into Rovers. Rumours that Yakubu had started to warm up after Viduka nearly got his second are unfounded.
Now it was Blackburn's turn to regain some composure and try to exert some pressure on Boro, something they successfuly did for a ten minute spell without actually troubling Skippy's goal unti Pederson won a free-kick from an acute angle on the edge of the box. Pederson smashed the ball stright through a crowded goalmouth and how it missed everybody and hit the back of the net is a mystery. Boro were behind again.
BLACKBURN 2 MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Pederson 29)
With Blackburn's defence not their usual confident selves, it seemed folly for Boro not to go forward and have a go at them and try to turn the thumbscrews. But aside from one more move that was started by Morrison and almost finished by Viduka, we didn't really do that and waited for our openings to come instead.
Apart from one Rochemback free-kick, those openings didn't materialise in the run-up to half-time and Boro instead found themselves defending again. Read was starting to come into the play now and was hooking up well with Savage and Bellamy and Boro were starting to look uneasy as the pair threaded several passes together confortably.
The wind howled around Ewood Park as the half-time whistle approached but the game faded away rather than burned out and with Boro regrouped, the talk will be of shoring things up at the back and keeping the heat on in an attempt to get the much needed second equaliser.
FIRST HALF FAN REACTION
"We have to get at them more in the second half. Their defence is not the strongest."
Murphy Smoggie
"We can't seem to beat battling teams."
Lord David
THE SECOND HALF
Steve McClaren used all three substitutes at half-time with Yakubu replacing Ray Parlour and joining Viduka up front, Pogatetz coming on for Chris Riggott and joining Franck and Ugo in a three man central defence with Andy Taylor coming on for Adam Johnson and taking up one of the wing-back positions with Andy Davies slotting into the other.
Yakubu made an immediate impact in the first few minutes of the half as he led a breakaway and found shooting space only to be shoulder charged off the ball by Emerton. I should add to that that the challenge was absolutely fair.
Blackburn tried hard to stop Boro gaining momentum but Robbie Savage tried a little too hard and was booked by referee Foy for a terrible challenge on George Boateng. He didn't learn anything from the booking and received his marching orders a few minutes later for a deliberate handball. It was an incredibly harsh sending-off but there was a case for a straight red for the first challenge on George.
The sending off got the Blackburn fans going and the atmosphere immediately tensed up as the referee received tremendous abuse for the sending-off. But the numbers were nearly evened up though when Mad-Dog Pogatetz made a rash challenge on Pederson with all studs showing and was lucky to only see yellow.
On sixty-three minutes, Boro rose right above the hostilities as Andy Taylor picked out Morrison with a brilliantly weighted pass and Morrison in turn found Fabio Rochemback who strode forward and blasted home leaving Freidel no chance to put Boro right back in the frame.
BLACKBURN 2 MIDDLESBROUGH 2 (Rochemback 63)
Boro immediately reverted to a flat back four and all the signs were there that we were going to go all out for a win.
But all our efforts were thwarted on seventy minutes as Craig Bellamy put Blackburn back in the lead by fashioning a goal out of absolutely nothing. It was a tremendous display of strength and skill from Bellamy but a massive disappointment for Boro who dropped went straight back to the three centre halves system and once again were left reuiruing another equaliser.
BLACKBURN 3 MIDDLESBROUGH 2 (Bellamy 70)
Blackburn continued to probe whilst Boro stood firm and with Savage gone, the biggest threat was now Bellamy who seemed to be getting the better of Boro's defence every time he received the ball. It was going to be tough to stop him getting his hat-trick in the last ten minutes.
INTO THE RED ZONE
George Boateng was booked for a tackle on Pederson and shortly after Mark Hughes had almost entered the pitch to remonstrate with referee Foy, Lucas Neil was booked for a poorly timed challenge on Andy Taylor.
Boro were fighting hard for a third equaliser but Rovers were always ready to counter with Bellamy constantly a threat. He may well have created another opening from one move but he was stopped dead in his tracks by Franck Queudrue. He was inevitably booked.
The ref put the Blackburn fans' back u again with just a few minutes left when he failed to book Mark Viduka for handball, the same offence for which he had earlier sent off Savage. The crowd's disquiet spilled over to the players as Rochemback and Bellamy raised their hands ot each other after both claimed they were struck. The referee let this one go and Boro continued their efforts to level the score.
Boro did everything they could to find the elusive breakthrough and it just didn't come. It was bad defending that let us down today and it's a major disappointment to have lost here today. That is said without taking anything away from Blackburn who won with ten men and a quality striker in Craig Bellamy. Maybe we should just play cup competitions from now on?
FULL-TIME FAN REACTION
"It was too much to ask to make so many changes to the side and still expect something out of the game."
Murphy Smoggy
"I think it's worth settling for a mediocre league place in a gamble to win one of the cups."
Lillibet M
Full-time whistle: 1657 - Report online: 1703
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