On the radio, the game at Blackpool sounded like a bit of a car crash. More than just the oft heard "bad day at the office".

It's a bad day at the office if the operation on that bad leg doesn't go as well as hoped. But if they cut off the wrong leg, leaving the bad leg as sore and useless as it was before... Or if you go to court to mitigate on a speeding summons and end up in the cells convicted of burglary...

There's bad and there's BAD. No excuses will do. It has to be put right for Friday. Good job it's an easy game at Blackburn, then..

It might feel a bit better after a night's sleep.

Battered.
Still, it is early doors isn't it ? We mustn't panic, there are still 32 games to get things right. Tick..Tick...Tick...Tick.
We mustn't be bed wetters or doom and gloom merchants so early..Tick...Tick...Tick...
Blackburn on Friday, onwards and downwards .
Anyone got Strachan's phone number?

We were nowhere near them last night. They were quicker and better organised (maybe they have a more consistent line up). Having two useless forwards on didn't help either.

After my beautiful, sun-drenched cross-Pennine drive through Ripon, Pateley Bridge, Grassington, Skipton and the Lancashire dales, black clouds and December weather greeted us as kick-off drew near, and another largely ineffectual performance from our lads.

We lacked a Nicky Bailey (whom we could not have, as he's not ready) but also, I think, a Seb Hines (whom we could have had). His speed across the ground might have helped cope with the fluid, excellent play of a spirited Blackpool attack.

We might be moaning today that poor Mogga has been able to field the same first team only once (by my reckoning) this season, but Blackpool were playing the football Mogga probably wants to see, and they could argue they are still bedding in elements of their squad, one of whom could have scored four - and did score twice.

Reach and Williams might have continued to cause problems in attacking the opposition, had they been selected, although neither would have caused the problems Incy's lad caused us. We relied on long balls up to Miller and then on long balls up to Juke. The kindest way to express what I felt last night was to intone Mogga's mantra, "Work in Progress... It's a Work in Progress..." (Even if this performance bore all the hallmarks of last year's drubbing at Bloomfield Road!)

One remarkable feature of last night needs to be mentioned: Justin Hoyte hardly put a foot wrong all night, despite the Seasiders tearing big holes everywhere else in the defence. Steele didn't do much wrong either.

**AV writes: Hoytey has been fantastic all season - and (controversially) - was probably among the best in the back half of last season too.

Halifaxp -

And Williams and Reach.

I am really pleased for Justin Hoyte and it would be churlish to say his pace and atleticism would stand out in our back four. It was noticeable that the right side of the defence were more solid than the left on Saturday, was that still the case last night?

That could be down to the attackers either favouring that side naturally - whenever I have seen Ince he seems to play through that channel.

As I posted earlier you need someone in front of the back four to break things up.

The risk of starting slowly, sitting back and having a wait and see game plan is if the opposition get through early you are stuffed.

A big reality check last night. Demoralising for the fans who travelled to watch last nights performance, i'm sure.

I really thought we would have stepped up a gear last night and have taken all three points but alas there seems to be a pattern emerging with an inability to collect points away. A reality that must be dealt with and with great urgency on Friday which I'm sure will be today's battle-cry.

Consistency seems to be eluding itself yet again. It may be early days but i'm sure the stats are already stacking against us and mid table mediocrity may be where our ambitions should lie this year.

I certainly hope i'm wrong and our players gel sooner rather than later.

Most of us probably predicted a 2 or 3 nil defeat before the match started. I am of the opinion that team selection (more non-selection) and tactics were completely out of touch...something we will be with the top 6 if this form continues.

Is it a coincidence that all the attacks seem to be coming from our left hand side?

Burnley were getting a lot of joy from that side with Trippier overlapping then leading to goals. Ipswich were having attack after attack there on Saturday and now young Tom Ince has had a field day down the same wing.

George Friend, maybe he is getting found out by the opposition as being a week link in our defence, he certainly doesn’t have the look or build of a full-back, he seems to have decent pace but turns slow and doesn’t position himself too well. I think the lads a good footballer but not a left-back, he’s built to be a centre-back.

This is starting to remind me of the time when Strachan was in charge when he wouldn’t play young Bennett or Taylor at left-back and insisted on playing Pogga at left-back and he was getting tortured game after game but still no change.

Remember one evening we were at home to Preston and Ross Wallace normally playing on the left-wing switched to the right to go one on one with poor Pogga and he absolutely tortured him all game but some how we managed to win 2-1 I think, and it was a lot more lucky than Ipswich at the weekend.

If this is a pattern it will have to be addressed, with Ben Gibson staying with Tranmere until January (they kept another clean sheet last night) and no kids coming through in that position, maybe the only way is to bring Parnaby in if he can stay fit and switch Hoyte to left-back, not ideal I know but it will have to be addressed if it continues.

Don’t like singling out players but even the Doncaster fans said Friend is an excellent CB but only an emergency left-back.

Sounded like most of the team struggled last night anyway and Mowbray is going to have to come up with some game plan to get a win or even a draw against Blackburn. Maybe young Luke Williams has another something special, this time for our away support to give them a happy trip home.

That was painful but not entirely unexpected.

It seems that every time we lose we're all trashing the team selection, but while any selection would probably have lost - Blackpool are simply better than us - once again I can't get my head around what TM was thinking.

It's prefectly understandable to want a team that can counter, but if you want to do that you have to win the ball back and get it forward quickly.

Surely we needed a tackler in midfield. Surely we needed pace in wide areas. Surely we needed someone to hold it up. Where were Smallwood? Carayol offers pace in abundance but where were L Williams and Reach? Where was Juke?

Baffling stuff, but as I say, any selection may not have been enough.

I hope we can look at our team in years to come and think that they remind us of Blackpool. I suppose that tells it's own story.

Lessons learned and point from Ewood please.

Blooming Heck AV, I thought Stephen King was writing that at first! It is glaringly obvious, we are only mediocre at best. Play the kids for a few seasons and get rid of all the dead wood. That includes all of the recent firewood we have taken in.

We have superstar kids we are told. So why dont we play them? How old was Proc when he played every game? How old was Spike? Craig Johnston? Cummins? Mowbray? Pallister, Ripley? Pollock?

Thomson is a waste of space. Leadbitter? They are just blocking the development of our youngsters. Remember Arca at Barnsley? Stop messing around with the kids Mogga.

I have had some miserable days at British seaside resorts over the years, but this one just about took the biscuit, edging out of the top spot a day of uninterrupted hail, rain, thunder and lightning at Littlehampton in 1949.

Excellent report, AV. As usual you manage to convey the mood and atmosphere of the game as well as its details. I would not disagree with any of your judgments, though I am less sure than you that Mogga got it wrong tactically. On the night I think we would have been well beaten however the team had been set up.

Before the game, one's pessimism provided the chief source of hope. Last season we went into games at Sunderland, Cardiff and West Ham fearing the worst (as we did at Cardiff the previous season), but produced superb displays on the day.

Perhaps this time by sitting deep, being organised in defence, staying in the game for as long as possible and hitting on the break, we might get some kind of result. The fear was that we might go behind early, chase the game and ship five or six goals, so vulnerable have we been to counter-attacks in our away games this season.

Well we did ship the early goal. Not only that but Steele produced four superb saves. I looked at my watch. 12 minutes had gone. Blackpool were producing one of the best first half performances I have seen in this division. I doubt if any team in the league could have lived with them.

We have both on paper and in fact a pretty solid back four. But by coming away from the central defenders, the Blackpool strikers found acres of space in front of our back four and gaps between them which they fully exploited. This is prime Nicky Bailey territory, and he was sorely missed.

I am in a minority in seeing many excellent qualities in Thompson, but I think Mogga may be mistaken in believing that he can fulfil this role. He gets caught on the wrong side of his man too often, but above all he does not sniff out the danger before it has time to develop in the way that Nicky does. Nor is he as effective in rallying the troops and keeping everyone else on their toes. But who is?

After 35 minutes we were still in the game thanks only to another string of fine saves from Steele, including a worldy from a Taylor-Fletcher header, and the profligacy of the Blackpool forwards. Miller produced a fine lay-off for Leadbitter to shoot strongly and force a save, and we once managed to get the striker facing the right way and running at the defence. Going for strength rather than placement, Miller hit the side netting.

Perhaps uniquely I am a bit of a Miller fan. I can understand what Mogga sees in him. And I saw him pretty well destroy us, and Seb Hines in particular, at the City Ground last season. Here, however, he was still lacking in match sharpness and received minimal support. Emnes was still on the plane.

McEachran was anonymous, though he improved as the game progressed. Carayol, out on the left, saw less of the ball than Miller. Leadbitter played most of the game under the handicap of a quite unnecessary early booking for kicking the ball away.

Just when it looked as though we might hang on without further catastrophe until half-time, George Friend showed that we couldn't, by fiddling instead of clearing his lines and allowing Ince to present Delfouneso with a second goal. Poor George, head in hands. had not a friend in the world at that moment, particularly amongst his team mates. Consolatory gestures were conspicuously absent.

Game over. Or so we thought. Then Carayol, despairing of seeing the ball ever again on the left, moved inside, beat half a dozen defenders,and forced a corner. Blackpool chose to defend it by using their smallest defender to mark Woodgate, who nodded the ball back from the far post to Bikey who hit the bar. From the resulting scramble McEachran re-centred the ball. This time Bikey nodded in with authority.

Half-time and it was as difficult to comprehend that we were still in it as it was to disagree with Blackpool fans who felt that without Steele's saves and a hatful of missed chances their team could have come in 6-1 up.

Tactics for the second half? Don't chase the game, I would have thought, hang on to the one goal deficit, don't leave yourself open to the counter-attack, and apply the real pressure in the last twenty minutes. Not a bit of it. We came out, took the game to Blackpool and started to look like a team.

Caroyal at last began to get some real service and was a constant threat. We gave them problems at set pieces. And corners, thanks to the combined presence of Miller, Woodgate and Bikey. (When was the last time we could say that?).

Then another sloppy error. Miller gave the ball away, catching us out of position at the back. Ince, for the umpteenth time beat Friend for skill and pace, rounded Steele, and slid home a fine goal. What a player this lad is! That Liverpool could pay £20m for Downing, but let this lad go defies understanding. Mark my words,young Thomas will be playing for a big London club within the next two years. At 70 minutes he was subbed to a standing ovation, in which it would have been churlish not to have joined.

Game really over this time, a fact confirmed by Carayol's removal, and the appearance of Ledesma and Zemmama. Ledesma's only moment of note came with his haranguing of the officials for spotting his obvious foul. His one man mission to stir up the opposition's crowd warrants a firm word from Mogga.

All that remained was the final penalty, a soaking for all of the Boro fans, and a police warning for me as I struggled to get into a dry pair of pants back in the car. It rounded off a day I won't quickly forget.

I have never returned to Littlehampton in over 63 years. Given the form of the two teams I do not envisage an early return to Blackpool.

I think Mowbray has had enough time to impose his strategy and shape his team, but has not performed consistently since last Christmas when teams began to easily stop us playing.

I can't stand it when he drops players after they have done well, usually the young ones. If I were one of those players I would be pretty frustrated, what do they have to do to get a run of games?

Another pet hate of mine is that Mowbray disrespectfully keeps calling the players "boys", even if they are in their 30's! I would have found it irritating in my 20's never mind 30's.

I was initially wary when he was first appointed but have tried to remain positive as he was a great player and leader for us back in the 80's. When Strachan left I felt someone like Billy Davies could have been good for us........oh well another season of mid table mediocrity to follow :-(

Atrocious. Abysmal. Abject.

This pathetic performance was reminiscent of so many of our spineless games in Southgate's relegation season.

I have so many questions. I'll stick to 3.

1) Miller????? We got more out of Juke in 10 minutes than Miller has offered in 4 games. Completely bloody useless.

2) Why oh why does Mogga not use Smallwood, who has proved many times that he can play the holding role almost as well as Bailey? He was on the bench last night, unused as usual, despite the tangerine onslaught. What has this lad done to upset the manager?

3) If Mogga got it wrong tactically first half, as he clearly did, why did he not sort it out in the second? Why didn't he devise some sort of plan to stop the Blackpool runners, or perhaps he did and the players weren't up to it? Was he deluded by the goal we scored just before half-time, and felt that would turn the tide? Big mistake.

I won't be going to Blackpool next season. They'll be in the Premiership. We won't.

Now there was me thinking,after last season’s exploits and the tide of change in personnel in the summer, that the Messiah had returned but, to quote Monty Python, “He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy, now go away”. There is another version but the final part of the sentence is unprintable, well, on here it is any way.

I realise that there has been constraints to TM’s purchases/signings/loans due to the fiscal state of the club but if, as stated that we are in such a perilous state, why on earth has TM not pillaged the academy for what I read are more than able candidates?

Why Bikey when we have young Ben Gibson more than holding his own at Tranmere? Why Miller, who apparently couldn’t kick his shoes off, instead of Jukebox, Reach and Williams. I mean, does Parnaby actually get paid to run around the park all week and then get match days off? With Thomson’s track record, I’d have him on appearance payments only and I’d definitely cancel the BUPA scheme he’s been making the most of while he’s been with the club.

If I was Smallwood and turning in the performances he has been, I’d be asking serious questions as to why I’m more often putting in eighteen holes with Parnaby on game days instead of filling a big one in front of the back line.

The humiliation at Blackpool has, I’m certain, not just got me thinking about the credentials of TM and his ability to lead us back to the Promised Land. Credit where credit’s due, he’s moved us to be a better structured club both financially and being “one of our own”, actually put a few more bums on seats than would probably not have fronted up if the former incumbents were still in charge.

Thing is, what’s been achieved behind the scenes has to be translated in to the same on the pitch, but we’re only seeing it, or in my case reading about it, in fits and starts. Where’s the consistency required to gain traction in this and any other league? I’m not looking for him to turn water in to wine, but a nice cheeky little number every now and again would be really appreciated

Sorry I’ve not been posting lately AV, I’d like to blame work or my current location, but I’ve just been a slacker to be honest. Always a cracking read, though, and virtually always on the mark.

The blog looks to be as miserable as the weather, even BoroPhil is struggling to find something positive and Jarrko has not provided his usual positive spin.

On Monday I emailed John to say I would settle for two draws and a place in the cup by the time we played Leicester. I am invoking points from unexpected sources for tomorrow nights televised game at Blackburn.

It is that or hide behind the sofa. Tesco have some good offers on beer - other supermarkets may have offers as well.

I was as disappointed as others but this is football. I have seen the goals on the Boro+ service and there were some terrible mistakes made by Boro. For example the one committed by our Friend which led to a goal by Blackpool.

So totally out-played and lost by a big margin. But this is what we must take to our chin after a summer of change. We cannot expect to be consistent after signing 12 players - it's still early season. The team needs time to gel and we must give Mogga time. We must. He was given the possibility to have his own team and players only this summer (2012). We must remember that - before then he played what he inherited from Strachan.

During last week we were able to read that the stats show Boro are holding the ball nicely and passing the ball like Mogga promised. More than any team in the division. I hope you, AV will look into this trend of new footballing team in a future blog. So the tide is changing for a more entertaining football. But the team is not gelling yet and we must be prepared to see results like on Tuesday. Our team is not ready yet.

Of course we cannot accept the result. Now it is interesting if we "turn up" at Blackburn. Surely we must play better that we did at B'pool. So let's see how the team - and Mogga - react to the defeat.

As ever I am optimistic - we can get a point or three at Blackburn. Let's hope so but a defeat is still not the end of the world. The new players need time to gel. Up the Boro!

Where Blackpool that good and are we really that bad? I suspect the answer is no on both counts.

Our reliance on overcoached tactics stifled any fluidity in our play and Holloways "gung ho, can do" confident beliefs showed in his players performances. There is a lot more to coaching than huddles on the pitch and it showed.

Our lack of experience allied to Blackpool's experienced squad showed, even the youngster Ince is experienced unlike ours who need to be gently blooded apparently. God forbid the likes of Luke or Reach are unleahed. its a bit reminiscent of when Jinky was left sat on the bench by Gareth.

Our technically gifted but Jaffa like Strikers may tick boxes in the Rockcliffe Manual but barn doors come to mind when watching them. If it continues much longer it will raise more analysis on the McDonald debate, while he is a luxury we apparently cannot afford is he a luxury we and Mogga can't do without?

The Mirror gave Leadbitter man of match and inferred that others had not shown his battling qualities. I've been impressed with him so far but not taken with other signings.

Woodgate for instance, good reader of game but not quick - and why was he given a three year contract with his injury record (typicall Boro) as for the McDonald farce I would have him in the team before Emnes anyday(more fight,and more goals).

Also Hoyte, no matter what AV or others say I think he is a poor defender with no positional sense (when are we going to get a decent pair of full backs?) McEachren signed on the understanding that when fit he plays, not very diplomatic to our young players who are champing at the bit and hoping to get picked.

All in all I was happy when we got Mogga as manager and he has turned things round but I find i am going off him a bit with his decisions and his teatment of our younger players who should play more regularly.

Mogga really has to decide on his best eleven and start getting results quick,other teams have sussed how we played last year and he needs to stop this sitting back and go for the braver option of playiong further up the pitch,

In order to keep track of Ben Gibson's progress, I have been going to Tranmere's games. I even went to see them play away a couple of weeks ago. At Crewe. Crewe!

As a result of the efforts of a couple of Boro lads ( Ben and myself) we are now top of the league. I say "we", since I seem, by accident, to have adopted Rovers as my second team. My shouting out at the top of my voice,"Up the Boro", whenever Ben has been within hearing, has undoubtedly helped the lad to settle,and contributed a great deal to his and the team's success.

Well I can report that Ben is continuing to do just fine. Four successive clean sheets, and only two goals conceded all season so far are stats that speak for themselves. Ben is not only producing faultless displays but is showing a maturity and organising ability well beyond his years.

Significantly Ben was drafted in as a short term replacement for the injured Ian Goodison, who has been one of the outstanding defenders in the division, the Tranmere captain, and a permanent fixture in the team for many years.

As a result of Ben's performances Ronnie Moore has said that Goodison will not be coming straight back into the team even though he is now close to being fit. At Prenton Park that amounts to a seismic event.

If he maintains this form then in January Ben will deserve serious consideration for the Boro bench. Of course he does not yet have the authority of a Woodgate or a Bikey, but given that, with my help, he has been instrumental in taking us to the top of the league, it would be remiss were he not to be given a proper chance to show what he could do at the next level.

Unfortunately I won't be able to make the trip for our game at Crawley on Saturday. I hope he does okay without me.

If TM is really worried about the pyschological effect on the younger players, ( Reach, Williams, Mains ) and that is his main reason for not picking them, then I think he should seriously be looking to bring in a 30 plus goalkeeper on loan.

Nothing is going to change too much when you read the reports. Poor defence despite Hoyte and Friend being talked up, which means that poor Jason Steele is going to continue picking the ball out of the back of the net for some time yet. What pyschological effect will this have on him??

"**AV writes: We always ask Mogga what his tactical thinking was and to be fair he always answers in full, dumbing it down of those of without a UEFA B licence. And to be fair, again, you can always see what the logic was, what he set out to do and why he picked particular players. He tells you exactly why. He never ducks it."

AV - that's admirable, of course - and nothing less than we'd expect of a man like Mogga.

The problem for us mere mortals who don't get to go to pressers and hear the Q&A is that barely a word of it is published - except the occasional answer on here like the one you gave above. That leaves the rest of us just having to guess.

Boro Phil - in order for Richie Smallwood to pull up trees last season, Mogga would have to have played him.

**AV writes: There is almost always extensive quotes from Mogga in Monday's Gazette sport extra about how the game panned out tactically, technically, where it went wrong or right. BBC Tees also have a live post-match interview after every game where Mogga is routinely quizzed on the tactical approach, win or lose. It is not true or fair to suggest such information is restricted to the press.

There could even be an argument that he says too much, offering detractors ammunition and possible areas to challenge him in a way that previous managers have never done. One of the good things about Mogga is that no-one has to guess what he has done or why. You may not agree with it but that is a different issue.

AV -

Having read your response to John and watching the final instalment of Harry Potter with my daughter a couple questions spring to mind.

Do you take off your Eric invisibility cardie before questions are posed? Secondly do you turn your moving picture of Mogga face down?

**AV writes: I take it that is a gentle jibe but - and this may be a sign of my Potterfree modern mass pop-culture poverty- but I really don't have a clue what that means.

I suppose you could argue that if a player is good enough his age doesn't matter. That if he is young he is likely to improve with experience whereas the 27 year old is probably at or near his peak and therefore will not improve much. But, of course, to improve with experience, he would have to play games.

I suppose you could say that younger players brought up through the Academy are likely to be hungry, desperate to get out on the field to impress, so as to make their way in the professional game at as high a level as they can. It's their club like it's ours. And the average Academy player will be getting much lower wages than the average Premier League loanee or player brought in from outside.

It's always a great quote - "You'll win nowt with kids". I suppose if your kids are the quality of the Nevilles, Scholes, Beckham, Giggs.....but even then, if they hadn't been played a lot, no-one would have found out how well they would cope and how good they really were. How many good prospects fail to develop because they were not given their opportunity when the time was right for them?

We KNOW how good Jukebox is, and Miller, McDonald etc. They have already had a large part of their careers (not saying Jukey is old, though) and plenty of games to demonstrate where they are in the football pantheon.

The youngsters haven't played enough for us to say whether X is real top quality and bound for the Premier League with us or a "bigger club", or even a good international future, or whether player Y might make a decent Championship player, or just a lower league player (but still good enough to make a career as a professional). Or whether he might drift out of the fully professional ranks.

I'd like to see more of the youngsters, particularly when they have been doing well. If a young striker has scored a goal in his last match, it seems to me that is the time to make sure you play him again, whilst his confidence is high and he feels he can hit the heights. And unless you play him, you'll never know whether or not he would have hit those heights in that next game. Then if he scores again, he would have even more confidence for the game after that.

It seems to me that, if a player has a shocker, THAT is the time to rest him, to let him recharge his batteries and hopefully regain his form in the reserve team, so he can make a comeback later.

The thing about it is that there can be no proof either way. You can't play the match with my youngsters in the team, and immediately afterwards replay the game with the older stagers in the team, and then compare results. You might say it's not sensible to put the pressure on young shoulders, to expect a boy to do a man's job etc (and all the usual platitudes). But what if you did, and he flourished? Like Beckham, Scholes etc.

Yes, there must be pressure on a young footballer fresh into the team. But not more pressure than there must be on a 19 year old soldier in Afghanistan or a young fireman going into a burning building. A 22 year old teacher facing a hostile class of children in an inner city comprehensive? I don't think anyone suggests that, the 19 year olds having been engaged in a particularly hairy patrol, they should stand down from the next half-dozen patrols while the older lads go out instead.

What if Pele hadn't played in Sweden in 1958? Imagine him overlooked then, and another young lad plays in his place and performs really well...with all the riches at Brazil's call THAT player would have been the World Cup winner with no place for the young tyro. He might never have been the player he turned out to be.

Sometimes I wonder if football is a little bit like the Emperor's new clothes. We have to appreciate the complexities, the subtleties, the formations, the tinkering, the tactics.... On the other hand, football could be a very simple game that people over-analyse.

I will put my 11 good, fast and very committed players out against your 11 less good players and it doesn't matter what your tactics are, 8 times out of 10 my team will win. That may be a harsh way of looking at the Blackpool game (they might have played well, whilst we might have been below par on the night) but I suspect I am right.

How much for Alves? How much did we get for Morrison? And which is the better, more useful, more durable player? St Ledger, Whelan....let's play Pogatetz at full-back...let's get rid of this young left winger to Sunderland as he's not really good enough (Downing). Let's get rid of Bennett for £100K... and 18 months later, after he is miraculously improved so as to get some games, we get millions. Maybe we are all experts and at the same time we all know nothing about football. Just like the professionals.

AV -

A very gentle jibe as I think you are mellowing towards the club. I think it helps that they are communicating more and that a certain gentleman of the night is no longer with them.

John P has an interesting Banter piece this time round with a 352 formation for tonight.

BoroPhil -

What Smallwood does add is someone who loves the role of holding midfielder. If you have someone who plays that role surely it is better than trying to make do?

It is a bit like when Strachan would play anyone rather than Bennett at left back, he may not have been the finished article but it was better than sundry fish on bikes.

Putting Smallwood there would free up Leadbitter to drive the team forward or Thommo to get forward and pass.

The other point is that his presence on Tuesday coudn't have made us play worse. If the players were leggy against Ipswich playing a couple of days later at high tempo Blackpool was not the ideal scenario. And this isnt hindsight, from Mogga's words I thought he was going to freshen it up in midfield.

The likes of Thommo and McEachran had barely trained before the Ipswich match after recovering from knocks.

But tonight is another game and as always we look forward with optimism. A bit of luck and you are one nil up and have something to build on.

AV -

On tactics & Mogga's pressers -

Some of us can't get the paper Gazette. But I scour the website. I listen to Radio Tees regularly via the Internet, including post match & I pay for access to Boro World on the MFC website for their interviews etc.

Then you could add all the other research I do for Boro Banter. Believe me, if what you're saying was out there I'd see it. The only place I do see it is on the occasions you do a reply on here - hence my comment.

**AV writes: Most of our Monday stuff doesn't go on-line (obviously we want people to buy the paper and we can't give everything away free, that's just crazy) and I can't say where and how the club use their post-match stuff but doesn't Tees stuff all go out live after the whistle?

Last night they certainly asked: "what did you differently tonight from the game at Blackpool? What went right tonight that went wrong on Tuesday?" and Mogga gave a fairly detailed answer. They almost always ask that kind of question.

Well, that was better! What a contrast with Blackpool. Usually we blow it on TV. Not tonight. For much of the Blackburn game we were magnificent, in all parts of the team. Juke led the line superbly. His header for the second goal was just outstanding. Marvin was back and backed up the Juke with some great runs and ball control. The midfield all played very well together, with Leadbitter and Carayol brilliant. Mustapha terrorised the Rovers defence all night! Jason Steele had another fine game, and best of all was the defence, completely in control till the last 15 mins. Woodgate was my man of the match, but Bikey ran him a close second, and Friend and Hoyte both also had very good games. All 4 put in tremendous blocks all night and especially at the death.

Of course, we had to face the usual storm in the last quarter, and we had some very nervy moments when Rovers scored. As usual Boro defended too deep. But we held on! This was a marvellous team performance.

So now I've changed my mind again! We will get promoted! Blackpool was a blip. Well, no, not quite. Perhaps I was a little hasty in my pessimism after Blackpool, like many others. I admit it, and I'm sorry. There is a long, long way to go. We will lose other games. But if we can play like we did tonight more often we will beat a lot of teams. So, a huge sigh of relief, and cautious grounds for optimism. Well done, Boro!