Not a bad game, but we blew it at the end giving us yet another away draw where we should have won. Boro, frankly, were poor and seemed intent on trying to break our players rather than on playing football. The number of cards they received is some indication of this.
Taking Shearer off, I think, cost us the match. not for any real tactical reason, just that when we were 2-1 up and approaching injury time having just missed a sitter to pretty much clinch it, Big Al would have walked the ball into the corner and sat on it. Our younger guns, out to impress, decided to keep lobbing the thing forward and losing possession. Enough to give one Fat Eddie Murphy the chance to push the ball into the net with his hand and spoil an otherwise good day.
Other quibbles – we’re all supposed to sit down for reasons I have not yet fathomed. I’m actually going to write a letter to Boro tomorrow and ask exactly what the issue is and why they don’t concentrate on stopping people smoking instead. After all, they have bloody big signs telling you not to and then they ignore people who do. It’s also more of a safety and comfort hazard. We did stand for the entire match, though I saw staff making half-hearted efforts to get people to sit down. Only they seemed to be starting at the sixth row, with makes little sense. As if they’re going to park their arses so they can’t see because of the rows in front.
My other was the lack of beer in the visiting end. I couldn’t get a pint before the game as the nearest pub to the ground – the Navigation – is very much home fans only. I thought I’d get one in the ground. No joy. Home fans had as much as they could guzzle. It just seems as discriminatory as it is safety-related.
