Spirited Shrews Buried In Scrappy Show
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.
Boro were far from convincing. In fact, in one sense they were lucky to escape as spirited Shrewsbury carved out a string of golden chances and had what looked like a strong penalty call waved away. Danny Coyne - Boro's early rounds of the cup specialist keeper - bundled over James Collins making a 'save' then admitted afterwards that he "never really got a touch on the ball" and then clocked up a couple of Gazette stars with a superb one handed injury time save that prevented us having to trek down to Salop next Wednesday.
On the other hand Boro could have, should have wrapped it up long before that. Emnes fired just wide, Ogbeche was through one-on-one with the keeper but a stuttering run and a poor first touch left him stabbing a weak shot straight at the advancing Neal and McDonald brought a good full-length save after a neat back-heel. Poor finishing to possession ratio again.
Despite victory there were some frustrated boos on the whistle. Some people obviously expect the league positions to mean that Boro would cruise it in a one sided goal fest. Others were left frustrated by a sloppy and flat-footed mix-and-match three man midfield that never gelled and never got to grips with the more mechanical familairity of the opposing unit.
Theer was plenty to criticise in Boro's below par perfromance. The usually solid defence looked porous and sluggish. Possession was squandered alarmingly with ring-rusty Kevin Thomson the chief offender but Richie Smallwood, Malaury Martin and Tarmo Kink gave the ball away cheaply in dangerous areas setting up good chances for Shrewsbury.
But it wasn't just Boro being bad. Shrewsbury did well and forced Boro out of their stride. You've got to feel for them. They will feel they did more than enough to get a draw and it is a long way home fuelled by a sense of injustice. We've all been there. Often.
But at the end of the day it doesn't matter. Emnes got the goal that mattered, Boro are in the hat for the fourth round draw and that is all that counts. We played far better and lost last year at Burton Albion. Far stronger teams slip at this stage without fail in the annual historic cull of the complacent and the unfortunate.
More later. In the meantime, judge the Shrewsbury display and result against some of these classic third round games of the past....
Parrky scores "a worldie" as second division strugglers Boro get stuck into yet another three match saga with mighty Everton in 1990:
Brucie Rioch's promotion chasing side make hard work of a home clash with Sutton United:
UEFA Cup big boys Boro are held to a draw by non-league Nuneaton. Checlk out the Mendieta goal. Check out Poggy's hair:
Terry Cochrane bags a slot on the Match of the Day credits and provokes a wave of playground injuries with some iconic acrobatics as Boro refuse to play patsy in what was scripted to be a televised giant-killing...
David Shearer gets two as Boro see off non-league Bishop Stortford at the second attempt...
A moment of shame as crisis club Boro are humbled by Darlington. Look at that pitch. Look at that crowd. Luckily no footage of the joey riot carnage outside the station...
And another sheepish "sing when you're fishing" moment of shame as Brucie's Boro were nicely positioned in mid-table in the top flight but were hauled aboard by the Trawlermen who I think were second bottom of the entire Football League...
Just to show that we do win some of the time, here's Lennie's Lions leaving it late to beat Chelsea at Ayresome Park...
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Anthony Vickers
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Smog jnrs first game today. He loved it. A hug from Roary too. He sat and watched it all, took a shine to Marvin from the warm up, and was delighted he got the winner. His considered match report 'brilliant Marvin super strike'. Nor bad for a three year old.
As for my attempt at a report, good cup tie, end to end, we should of scored more than one, they definately should have got one. Coyne's save toward the end was top class. Also should they have had a pen?
We looked off the pace though, and our last minute free kick routine was appaling.
Three in midfield didn't really work. So far this season our main attacking strength has been the counter attack at the change over of possesion.
I don't want to have a go at Thompson but I don't think he suits that style of play. Quite often he is the second boro player to get possesion after we win it back, and he moves it on and keeps possesion. Plenty of area for praise there. But Thompson's pass does not go forward. There is no injection of pace, nothing to worry the opposition.
That key chance to get at the opposition whilst they are flat footed is lost. Now that may be because he can't see an option further forward and retaining posesion is half the battle.
Clean sheet, a win and another Boro fan (born in Newcastle) hooked. Progress
Great news about the young generation, Smogs. Glad he enjoyed it. Keep him hooked. My mate pointed out Roary was signing autographs at the front of the West Stand. Literate Lions - now that's progress!
On that performance, the Shrews would not have looked out of place in our division. Maybe the fault was ours rather than the compliments all being due to them.
Anyway, we are through to the next round. One of the great Manchester teams won't be.
So the question is: would it be better for us to draw, say, Swindon at home with the hope of progressing to the next round, or say Arsenal or a Manchester giant away, with the probability of a share in a big crowd and some TV money, a gallant performance and then concentrate on promotion?
Yep another scrappy win albeit the cup, however there is a worrying trend when we play at home with or without our midfield injury list, in that we struggle to score (Emnes and McDonald are not the answer and will not fire us to the Premiership) - and then when we do we are not able to score a second game clinching goal which leaves us hanging on at the death.
AV any word through the back door on the transfer front? Is there a couple of bob in the biccie tin for a goalscorer?
I'm getting tired of hanging on in matches that should be well won. The nerves won't take it.
I used to admire those teams (Liverpool in their pomp were prime examples) that would have a bad game, deserve to lose, but somehow manage to grind out a 1-0 win. But we're not doing that. We're only scraping through games that we've dominated, should have sealed after an hour and should be won by 2 or 3.
If we'd had the goal power to convert more of our chances and kill games off, by my reckoning, we'd be 4-8 points better off by now with a much healthier GD. Perhaps, with a new striker in Jan, that will be how the second half of the season will go?
Still, I suppose we have to be thankful for small mercies - 12-18 months ago, we would have lost these games in the last few minutes. At least now we usually do manage to cling on to the result. Not good for the blood pressure though.
At times it did look quite easy and yet at times it looked such hard work.
Positives -
we won and Williams looks a different class to the other 21 players on the pitch. Bates and Williams are having to adapt to been Bailey-less and they look at lot more exposed, but did well. McDonald was here was there was every flipping where, and for me earns the right to moan with the hard work he puts in. Oh and the queue for Bovril was fine this week.
Negatives -
It was bloody freezing. I was disappointed with Martin & Smallwood, they just didn't grab the chance given to them - I doubt ( I hope ) they will not get too many starts this term and if that is what they have to offer, then the strength in depth problem is worse than I thought it was. My mam said if you have nothing nice to say then you should say nothing. So I am not going to say anything about 1 gear Thomson.
Poor Ogbeche will never quite make it not in this league, and after his miss you could tell he knew. It was a strange game and fascinating because of that. The 10K Boro army booed because with 30 seconds left we wanted to see a shot on target or into row z - yet, after a forward line conference they decided to jut give possession away while they were out of position so letting the shrews into our half one last time.
Strange - but I enjoyed it !
A quick rant....
Looked at the BBC's FA Cup in pictures and what picture and caption did they have for the Boro match? Four Boro fans with a block of empty seats!
No comment about only being 14,500 at the West Midlands derby between Brum and Wolves, 9,000 at Coventry v Soton or 10,000 at Derby v Palace.
Anyway we are in the draw for the next round after a not very convincing Taming of the Shrews.
**AV writes: There were 22,000 empty seats at St James' Park aftre beating Man U and they were playing a PL side. No story, move along.
Desperately scratching around for a silver lining, at least several fringe players got a run-out and will be better placed when we need them in the league.
The entire MF was having its first start! Coyne got some much-needed time in the first team. Emnes started again after injury, got back on the goal trail and Oggy got some more game time under his belt. Other fringe players came off the bench, albeit with mixed fortunes.
So, taking the longer view, this game provided a valuable opportunity and Mogga took it. However that's about the best thing that can be said about the day.
The best thing that could happen now is a tie away to a Premiership club, a pay day and respectable quick exit from the Cup.
How did we get away with that win yesterday?
Despite our best efforts at ineptitude we could not give Shrewsbury the equaliser they deserved.In fact they were the better team. For once both our goalkeepers are exempt from blame and were the reason we won.
As for the rest, well, with the possible exception of Williams they all fell short of the standards, professionalism and will to win that has characterised this season.
The main culprits: Kink for not wanting to be on the pitch and should be despatched back to Estonia as soon as possible. Smallwood who seems star struck at being in the team but lacks the basic ability to remain there. Thomson who must think he is still playing on remote Scottish Highland pitches where he can saunter around at will and hope his 50 yard crossfield passes will save him having to run. Finally Martin, I will give him the benefit of the doubt but his free kick looked as if he had his left boot on his right foot.
We got worse the longer the match wore on and it was an ugly reminder of what was happening on the pitch regularly before Mogga arrived.
Away to Sunderland. No travel, big attendance to make some money but we can get out of the Cup unashamed. Perfect.
Black Cats Skinned!!
And are rewarded with a visit to Clattermole & Co at the SoS in the fourth round! :(
Sunderland away next round. Great draw. How big do you think our allocation will be? Do the police decide?
Sorry, guys, but my belief in Richie remains undimmed. He had his worst game in a Boro shirt, yes, to be sure, with several passes going astray, but did he stop making himself available? Did he hide? Did he fade? No, no, no, he did not, but got better.
Kink and Martin - you can't say that for them, can you? One is an international, another has represented his country at every level but the full one.
Leave off Richie! He's the future, and this was a learning curve thing, and we won!
A win is a win. No coment column in the cup draw.
Its Sunderland away. As per above comments a Prem team in the draw and dare I say a derby as well. Should be a full house.
As for the injury situation and Bailey out for several weeks. TM says he is not going into the market to fill the gap but what we had in midfield on Saturday was poor although agree they havnt played much together.
I would say Williams will have to move up, Not to replace Bailey but maybe to take pressure off by pushing us forward. At least until Robbo is back. Bring Big Mick into the back four. The bit of the game I watched on TV looked we were not the same defending without Bailey in front of the back four.
Can't wait for round four, underdogs.
Nikeboro said: " The entire MF was having its first start!"
I did not realize that on Saturday so well done as they have not really played much. But of course one expects more from them as we all remember last April with Thommo and Smallwood giving us four straight wins.
"The best thing that could happen now is a tie away to a Premiership club, a pay day and respectable quick exit from the Cup."
Well, we got what you hoped - an away tie at Sunderland. I am pretty sure the Boro fans fill the stadium on their part and it could be a cracking game. We could measure our team against a PL side on form under O'Neil. And in front of a good crowd in a derby match.
Of course we won't be disappointed to go out of the cup and concentrate in promotion but we still could upset them.
Up the Boro!
Sounds like a typical 3rd round game to me, job done.
So now we're off to Light Bulb Park for the fourth round, that'll be fun. Will it be televised?
I hope Steve Gibson has an Ikea nearby in Jersey, cause he'll need to buy an extension for the trophy cabinet, the cup has our name on it............
Not particularly enamoured by the prospects of Sunderland in the next round. Promotion is our goal and a trip to a team who traditionally seem to leave half our first team squad crocked for six months is not a good omen.
Just hope we come through it relatively unscathed and it doesn't destroy our promotion prospects. I suppose because its Sunlun we will have to put up a token effort and go through the motions to ensure we can walk down Stockton High Street afterwards with our heads held high!
If we get a free kick 20 yards out I just hope someone knows what the heck to do with it. The schoolboy squabble on Saturday was a disgrace for so called professional footballers. Something tells me if Robbo had been on the pitch it wouldn't have happened.