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BLACKBURN v BORO, BRIGGSY'S ANALYSIS
The trip to Ewood Park yesterday proved to be a step too far for Middlesbrough. We made eight changes from the team that started against Roma.
The team lined us as follows:- Schwarzer, Davies, Queudrue, Riggott, Ugo,
Morrison, Johnson, Boateng, Parlour, Rochemback and the lone striker
Viduka.
Boro nearly went ahead in the opening minutes when neat play between
Viduka
and Morrison saw a powerful shot from Morrison saved. The opening goal
came
on the ten minute mark, when Emerton played in Bellamy who beat Riggott
and
hit a left foot curling shot past Mark Schwarzer. The keeper's
positional
sense has to be questioned.
Five minutes later we almost got the
equaliser.
James Morrison, making his fiftieth appearance for Boro, hit a powerful
thirty
yard volley which just went over Brad Friedel's goal.
We got the equaliser one minute later when James Morrison capitalised on a poor throw from Luca Neill. He then played in Viduka who hit a
powerful
shot past Brad Friedel at the near post. We nearly took the lead
moments
later when a close range header from Vidukla was saved brilliantly from
Brad
Friedel.
On the half hour mark Craig Bellamy won a free kick wide
right.
Pedersen stepped up and hit a curling shot which evaded everyone and
ended
up in the Boro net. How was he allowed to score from that angle? Why
wasn't
there another man in the wall? All valid questions asked of the Boro
defence.
Pogo, Taylor and Yakubu came on for Boro at half time. Blackburn were
reduced to ten men in the space of minutes when Savage was booked for a
foul
on Boateng, then received another yellow for deliberate handball. The
word deliberate seemed harsh.
Ten minutes later we made our numerical
advantage
count. Morrison found himself in yards of space on the right and played
a
nicely weighted ball to Rochemback who blasted it into the Blackburn
net.
The game winning goal came on the seventy minute mark when Pederson
played
in Bellamy who found yards of space on the right. He took a touch and
walloped a blistering shot from the end of the box, giving the keeper
no
chance.
It was a very good goal it must be said. But where was Pogo? It
was
a very disappointing defeat. We're starting to leak goals again which is
very
worrying.
We certainly didn't make it easy for an on-form Blackburn though. We
scored
two goals and but for a fantastic strike we would have gotten a deserved draw
against a Champions League chasing team.
I thought McClaren was again correct in shuffling the pack. Looking
back on
this season in a couple of year's time, who's going to remember whether
we
finished tenth or sixteenth? What will stick out in peoples memory is the cup
runs.
That's not taking anything away from the league. I'm sure we no
doubt
go out there to try and win and we certainly don't lose on purpose. We're not going
down
and we're not going to win the league.
We should give ourselves the
best
footing we can in the cup competitions. We're at the business end of
both
cup competitions and we should try our upmost to win one or both.
If we reach our
potential this season we could end up playing half a season in eight weeks.
BACK TO BLACKBURN MATCH PROGRAMME INDEX
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