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THE AWAY END - ASHTON GATE 7-1-08
John Powls
The Build Up To The Game
The e-rumour mill this week has been energised by the opening of the transfer window - generally a similar phenomenon for journos as March is for hares. The focus for Boro rumours has been who we can afford to strengthen up front. Gate has done his best to pour cold water on any idea - or been coy, as he was charmingly described.
Was the poverty pleading a ploy or will we get the striker that "Teesside can afford", if we get anyone at all?
Whatever Gate said, Alfonso Alves was still alleged to be in the frame as was Atletico Madrid's want-away and out of contract Portuguese midfielder, Maniche.
Unfortunately, Rob Hulse, The Blades 'thud and blunder' old style centre forward who has just recovered from a broken leg also keeps being mentioned and, interestingly, he was omitted from their cup squad yesterday.
The only other titbit was Barry Silkman hinting that The Boat was on his way. This was given credence by the Dutch midfielder having been dropped for the Toffees game without much in the way of explanation by Gate and then no instant public denial by MFC in contrast to similar rumours about Stewie and Johnno, who are now both cup-tied, of course.
The Boat was omitted from today's squad after an alleged "training ground bust-up" with Gate and so avoided being cup tied. Kean-o's suitably enigmatic non-confirmation said that the Mackems were amongst the suitors, with Fulham also said to be there. Gate seemed to be equivocal about him going but "the Club wants him to stay" has been the official line.
Away from the transfer rumours, Udayan Mukherjee's article on this website summed our Christmas up - and summed up the feelings across the message boards and blogs - when it said:
"I'm not sure exactly when the tide turned but now we are not angered by defeats, merely resigned to them."
When you think about it, that was both sad and scary, as well as being accurate.
Traditionally, the third round of the FA Cup has been seen as something of a break from the disappointment, grind and resignation of the Premiership for teams that have been struggling like Boro. Sometimes it has been the springboard for changing fortunes in the league or for improving morale with a Cup run. It proved so for Boro last season.
That has usually meant the strongest side has been selected and uber-effort has been put in during the game. But it also risks a "banana skin". Certainly, it would be Boro's only hope of salvaging something positive from this train wreck of a season. But if we played our strongest side and lost.
There were other views. Take Dave Kitson from Reading for example who said:
"We are not going to win the FA Cup and I do not care two sh**ts about it, to be honest. I care about staying in the Premier League, as does everybody at this club. Our league status is not protected by winning the FA Cup - simple as that."
So much for the romance of the Cup, Dave.
So, which view drove Boro's approach to the game?
On Friday, Gate had given the message that the league was the priority and with several regular first teamers on four yellow cards and the usual crop of injuries, there were choices to be made. His only real choices, come kick off, were whether Tuncay was fit enough to start, whether to play Simba or Hutchinson or both up front and which formation to go with.
Come kick-off he had chosen to leave Tuncay and Simba on the bench with the rest of the subs being Academy kids, play Hutchinson and go 4-5-1/4-3-3. He said later that he had wanted to try this new formation as he felt we had become "one-dimensional" and had instructed Stewie and Johnno that they had to get up alongside Hutchinson when we went forward.
The views from Robins' fans was that they would be right up for this - both team and crowd. They saw it as a chance to measure their progress from last year when we played them in the fourth round and to test what the step up from top of the Championship to bottom of the Premiership was now. They're having a great season, have a good manager and saw us as an easy scalp to take.
It was clear that all the pundits had this one down as a home banker too and not one you could even call a cup shock. Lawro had us down to lose - always a good thing - and the entire Sky panel predicted a Robins win, which Jeff Stelling interpreted as showing what "disarray" we were in.
I was very heartened, though, by Stelling's interview with their manager, Gary Johnson. He was confident to the point of being cocky and, although he tried to avoid it, Stelling goaded him into hinting that they felt a win for them was a foregone conclusion. I was heartened because I thought they had lost it there and then.
I hoped that that would be true. I was under added pressure for this game as my mate Ian had deserted (what punnery!) to Egypt for a holiday and had left me in charge with instructions that I had to deliver no replay and a solid win in his absence. Thanks, mate!
The Game
The point of cup-ties is to win and be in the draw for the next round. If you're a Premiership side against a lower league outfit, then you should put on a professional display and make your status tell. And at this time of the season, win at the first time of asking, if possible. So, job well done.
The game was decided by a classy move and finish that revolved around Wheats and which Matthew Le Tissier described as being "Beckenbauer-esque". High praise, indeed, if not hyperbole.
One commentator summed it up thus:
"It was a goal fit to win the finest of cup-ties. And this one!"
Whilst the first half was largely 'even-stevens' The Robins threatened to pull off the much predicted win with a goal that had more to do with a return to the individual defensive errors we have shown in some of our poorer displays than the bit of Premiership class we would show later.
Skippy was indecisive with a cross that he should have dealt with and in the scramble that followed we were doing too much of the 'after you, Claude' to prevent the ball being toe-poked in from the melee.
But the goal didn't put Boro off their stride and we held the ball well but to largely little effect, with most of our possession being twenty yards either side of the half way line.
Towards the end of the half it was almost like Stewie had decided to take striking matters into his own hands as he surged forward from the left. His shot was strong and true but it shouldn't have troubled Basso. Just like Mido's debut goal against Fulham earlier this season however, the custodian decided to do us a favour and let it in.
You could sense not just Boro's elation and the rise in volume from another full Away End but also Bristol's deflation.
Boro came out for the second half and played with the sureness of touch and threat that a Premiership side should show against a side from the Championship. There were chances for both teams but theirs seemed more sporadic and isolated whereas Boro's were as the result of applying pressure.
Then came the wonder goal that Wheats has said was more about intuition than anything from the training ground. He played the ball wide to Luke Young and kept surging forward because "I just had a funny feeling that it was going to come back to me".
And so it did, via a pass from Luke Young to Catts and an incisive run from the midfielder into the Bristol box. He had the presence of mind to look up and not to be startled by a rampaging Wheats appearing on the penalty spot and slid it into his path. Wheats side-footed it in without breaking stride.
Beckenbauer-esque indeed! Or maybe even Hickton-esque - but let's not give anyone at MFC any ideas for striking options that cost nothing!
After that you could sense in the Bristol team and amongst their fans that there was no way back. Indeed, to the usual chants from The Away End of "We can see you sneaking out", their crowd started to drift away as the game drifted away from their team.
The last few minutes were enlivened by a cameo from Tuncay who, as usual, cleverly made space for himself to create shooting chances. Sadly his shooting didn't match his approach work on this occasion.
When the whistle went it was fair to say that we had shown enough that means we should be able to maintain the difference in league status between us and them but, in contrast, they had shown that they still had a lot to do to join us in the Premiership.
They could start by not being so cocky - a point which Gary Johnson owned up to when interviewed at the final whistle.
If we want to stay in the Premiership we have to translate a cup run and some of this form into our roller-coaster-with-more-downs-than-ups league form. A point that Gate also acknowledged at the end.
I could also breathe easily again, knowing I'd be able to report that I'd done my duty when Ian returned from the land of the Pharoahs - or Mido and Shawky!
Later...
On MOTD, we were predictably amongst the thirty second round ups at the end. I was pleased to see Gate's wry turn of humour when he 'apologised' to the interviewer for ruining the planning of their running order by not slipping on the proffered banana skin, which Gabby Logan had the good grace to own up that they had had to do, so sure were they that we would lose.
It was also interesting to hear from Lee Dixon that in Arsene Wenger's private conversations he had identified Gate as "one to watch" and "one of England's brightest young managers". Might that have been after we stuffed them at The Riverside, I wondered?
I also had the enjoyment of doing the ComeOnBoro.com spot on Simply Red Sunday with Ali and Bernie - always great fun and over in a flash. We discussed white bands, the fourth round Cup draw and whether another away draw might suit us, the potential benefits of a cup run for our league form and who we could get in the transfer window to bolster our attacking options.
Before he went off to play for his Sunday team, Phil and I looked forward and discussed the yellow cards from the cup game and how those would give Gate a challenge for Liverpool in the Premiership. With Shawky away and Arca and Catts suspended who would partner Rocky in the centre of midfield? Would The Boat have to have a last hurrah!
And would we see Mido again?
'Yerjokin'aren'ya' Quote of the Week
"Before I left Portsmouth I looked at Middlesbrough and saw they had ambition, but I don't think the ambition is there any more. I decided to go to Everton because they had more ambition."
The Yak on his first return to Boro on New Year's Day. Actually, yernotjokin'areya, Yak.
Rumour has it that The Boat will say the same thing after he has left.
The Away End will be back after the Blackburn game on 19 January.
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John Powls is a published poet with five books of his work in print. He is a regular performer of his work at major literary festivals and exhibitions in the UK and America, often working with musicians, painters with photographer Carol Ballenger.
Check out Red Shoes 250 for more of John Powls, right here.
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