BACK TO ARCHIVE INDEX © All written site content is copyright ComeOnBoro.com 2004-2007, unless otherwise stated, and is not to be used without prior permission.	BLACKBURN v MIDDLESBROUGH, 30th DECEMBER 2006, PREMIER LEAGUE Boro usually live in fear and trepidation of the festive period as it is traditionally the time when we produce our annual slump. Not this year though - Boro are unbeaten over Christmas going into today's match but still just three points away from the drop zone, with Blackburn just one point ahead of us. Schwarzer, Davies, Woodgate, Pogatetz, Taylor, Morrison, Boateng (Euell 78), Cattermole, Downing, Yakubu, Viduka Jones, Parnaby, Christie, Johnson THE FIRST HALF Boro's 4-4-2 formation produced no dividends early on as Blackburn adapted much better to the awkward conditions. There was talk of the referee keeping a close eye on the pitch with just a few minutes gone as much more rain could have rendered it unplayable. Shabani Nonda in particular was looking like he could provide an early threat and he almost opened the scoring after five minutes when he found himself in position and saw his shot go wide. Four minutes later and he had made up for that early miss as he powered straight through the centre of Boro's defence, shrugged off Jonathan Woodgate's challenge and slotted home from twelve yards. A bad start for Boro. BLACKBURN 1 MIDDLESBROUGH 0 (Nonda 9) Rovers clearly had the initiative now and with control of the game established, they went after the second only to see Boro's defence deny them three times in the following seven minutes. On twenty minutes, Emanuel Pogatetz was booked for a fairly innocuous foul on Benni McCarthy and Rovers continued to probe the Boro backline in search of what would probably have been a killer second. And the rain continued to pour... Boro were starting to lose their shape now and were becoming increasingly rattled at the back. Jonathan Woodgate almost made a fatal error on thirty-two minutes when an attempted clearance went wrong and was scooped into the air. Luckily the defender was able to recover and send the ball out for a corner. Viduka was looking hungry today and Cattermole threatened to link with him in the later stages of the first half but the passes were not of sufficient quality to allow Viduka to weave his magic. In fairness and despite barely testing Skippy, Rovers had dominated the first half. It was a poor half from Boro and the tempo would have to increase in the second half if we were to preserve our unbeaten Christmas record. THE SECOND HALF Boro returned to the pitch early and started out like a team on a mission. Barely a minute had gone when Yakubu took the first chance of the half but his shot could have been better and drifted wide. But the momentum didn't last long at all and Blackburn found it too easy to put Boro onto the back foot once again. Lee Cattermole's exuberance earned him a booking on fifty-one minutes for a clumsy tackle on Robbie Savage and it was down to Jonathan Woodgate to save the Boro on fifty-five when he expertly picked up Benni McCarthy in the Boro box. The quality of Woodgate's masked the fact that Rovers had found it far too easy to break through into the Boro box. On fifty-eight minutes, a Boro attack eventually made it into the Blackburn box but the assault was wiped out when Andy Todd pulled down Emanuel Pogatetz and the referee didn't hesitate to point to the spot. Yakubu made no mistake with the spot-kick and Boro were right back in it. BLACKBURN 1 MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Yakubu, pen 60) With the first attack from the restart, Rovers had a penalty claim of their own turned down when ironically, Andy Todd was the man who fell to the floor with Pogatetz the accused... referee Atkinson was not fooled. Boro were playing like a team with much more confidence now that the equaliser was in the bag but were not making any headway up front. The Boro crowd were in fine voice but the team were not giving them much to shout about. Until Cattermole received the ball wide in the seventy-first minute and sent the best shot of the game so far narrowly wide. That seemed to stir Blackburn who immediately took the ball up to the Boro end and won a corner. The corner was floated in by Savage who expertly found the head of Benni McCarthy. As in the Manchester City game, Boro had every man in the box when the goal went in. Just five or six who were organised would have been sufficient. BLACKBURN 2 MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (McCarthy 74) George Boateng, who had not had the best of games, was substituted on seventy-eight minutes. He was replaced by Jason Euell. Nonda should have finished the game off on eighty-two minutes when he found himslef with a glorious scoring opportunity just a few yards out. Once again the Boro defence had provided a gap for the tricky striker and we were lucky that he hooked his shot over the bar. Rovers continued to attack and the chances of another Boro goal were looking very remote now. In an effort to rectify this, Gareth Southgate used his last two available substitutions with Adam Johnson and Malcolm Christie replacing James Morrison and Andy Davis. Boro switched to a 3-4-3 formation in one last desperate throw of the dice. The speculative formation was barely given a chance to work as Boro rarely had possession in the time that remained since the switch. Bennie McCarthy had one of the best chances of the final minutes and he must have been disappointed to see his shot blazed over the bar. Backburn were at the Boro's throats with just three minutes of stoppage time to play and almost got the third when Savage glanced a header past the Boro defence. Boro simply failed to get the ball forward in the final minutes and Blackburn deservedly took all three points. The situation is a little more serious now with Boro in serious danger of slipping into the bottom three on New Year's Day. A win against Sheffield United on Monday is essential. SEND THIS TO A FRIEND BACK TO BLACKBURN MATCH PROGRAMME INDEX
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