BUGGER. Tonked by the side cut adrift at the bottom. Carved up by Alex bloody Nimely. No points from nine in January with eight goals leaked, just one scored and a string of poor performances - and now a self-inflicted midfield crisis for the Mackem match.

That was a nightmare.

APOLOGIES in advance but some of this is going to sound a bit like a Richard Littlejohn "safety Nazi" soap-box rant. The phrases 'remote killjoys', 'faceless unelected suits,' 'joyless cabal of autocrats drunk on power riding roughshod over the people' and 'you couldn't make it up' may or may not feature. We'll see.

Boro fans have been left fuming over the harsh and opaque decision to hand the club just 3,000 tickets for the mouthwatering FA Cup derby clash at the Stadium of Light. And you can see why. The arbitrary decision flies in the face of the competition rules, the long and proud traditions of "the magic of the cup" and of common sense.

JUKEBOX played but Boro hit a bum note. The fat lady was clearing her throat and doing scales long before the new boy - squeezed through a loophole on an emergency loan while Boro finalise the real deal - made his entrance in the second half.

PLANET BORO is buzzing after a fantastic FA Cup draw that can light the blue touch paper on a slow burner of a season.

The fourth round trip to Sunderland has already caught the imagination and fired up the spirits of supporters in the wake of the dream draw.

The mouthwatering trip into hostile territory offers a golden opportunity to galvanise the Teesside public and for the Mogganaut to gain vital momentum on the road to promotion with an inspirational display and a famous victory.

JITTERY defending. Self-inflicted moments of chaos at the back. Being given the run around by the motivated minnows really giving it a crack. Over-elaboration and wayward passing from a disjointed midfield who barely know each other. Poor finshing. Nail-biting nervous red zone rocking. Stoppage time save from a substitute shot-stopper. Ah yes, the magic of the cup.

BLACKPOOL battered Boro. Again. It wasn't quite as bad a performance as the last dismal visit there under Gordon Strachan when the gap between Boro and the play-off contenders was ruthlessly exposed - but it was still pretty brutal.

And it was Boro's worst display of the season so far.

IT'S THE end of Year One of the Moggalution, a dramatic 12 months of dramatic improvement in results and perfromances that have raised the bar and raised morale.

Now it is time for my contractual obligation flick through the highlights of the year looking at how that revival started to shape itself out of the chaos Tony Mowbray inherited. Rather than writing something I thought I'd point your browsers at some of the threads on the blog over the past 12 months, that way we not only recall the events but also get a flavour of how we reacted to them at the time, what posters were saying and how the consensus has changed. Plus I've thrown a few cultural landmarks in and, reality TV style, some of my best bits.

Read on....

TWELVE months ago today a brittle Boro were just outside the Championship relegation hot spots on goal difference alone.

A creaky post-Strachan side were above Crystal Palace by a fraction. They had scored just 21 goals and had taken a 21 points from 22 games - and most of those were banked after the arrival of Tony Mowbray in October. Fragile and unbalanced, Boro were just two points above rock bottom Preston with a trip to the basement boys up next. In that momentous game they actually slipped behind and were briefly dumped on the bottom.

Since then they have been galvanised and transformed in a spectacular year of renewal and revival. Now bubbling Boro are just outside the promotion places on goal difference and are a tantilising three points off the Championship top spot. From one defeat away from rock bottom to one win away from the summit. It has been an amazing year of deep seated change. It has been a year of Moggalution at Middlesbrough.

THE LAST Boro player to score on Christmas Day was Brian Clough. He got two as Boro came from behind to beat Doncaster 3-2 in Division Two back in 1956 in front of 16,515. They played again the following year at Huddersfield but lost 1-0.

It's crazy to think that back in the austere post-war grainy black and white Pathe News universe there were full programmes - and decent public transport - on Christmas Day. Except when it fell on a Sunday, which of course was a real no, no. Would you fast forward through th epresents, turkey and stuffing and clamber aboard the M bus now to see Boro play Doncaster Rovers on Christmas Day? (*Puts hand up sheepishly*) I would. I know a lot of people who see it as a serious erosion of their right to over eat and watch rubbish TV but for this household it would be a routine to don those Christmas jumpers and go.

I've just been doing a bit for next Tuesday's column (we have to work in advance a bit at this time of the year) on festive football and looking back through a selection box of seasonal sizzlers. There have been some brilliant games on Boxing Day. You'll have to wait to read the fruits of my labour... but here's a reminder of two tinseltastic results to get you in the mood.

WHAT A game! What a team! What a brilliant start to the festive fixture flurry. When the story of the season is told - and if there is a happy ending - that is one of the key moments we will point to. And laugh with glee.

A positive, polished second half show swept Boro to a fantastic coupon-busting win in a top of the table seasonal sizzler at Cardiff. Cardiff were unbeaten in 11 and had won six in a row at home and kept three clean sheets on the bounce. Boro were forced into changes, e without Marvin Emnes, gave a new striker his first start in English football and were playing an experimental 4-3-1-2 system.

We had travelled to Wales with trepidation. Here be Dragons. Their fans and officials were buzzing before the game and totally convinced they would win. But then again, they were last time we visited too, so much so that before the game they issued the press with details and timings of their planned lap of honour. We laughed the way home. All five hours. Party poopers again. LOL. As I believe the young people say.