February 2006 Archives

SO LONG as Boro don't lose to Birmingham we are safe.

Of course, for a lot of those calmer, more rational 'glass half-full' positivists revived Boro are home and dry already.

But those of us of a more nervous disposition and a keen sense of the ability of fate to kick us in the teeth will want Birmingham out of the Riverside and out of the chase before the palpitations subside.

AFTER COVENTRY, Stuttgart away and Preston Steve McClaren was beaming that his team had started to “win ugly.� Well, now we can lose ugly too.

Boro had two shots on target – an entire month’s quota – and won their first corner in the 89th minute. They opted to concede the initiative, play one up front (and not far up front), cower around their own box, scrap away unconvincingly in the middle, sit tight and hope for the best. It was a high-risk strategy that almost exploded in the bosses’ face.

BORO should now target the FA Cup final as their top priority because it gives them an each way gamble on glory.

Having escaped the big guns in the quarter-final draw a silverware showdown is now within dreaming distance.

The FA Cup can give us an emotional return to Cardiff and a much needed fillip after a trying season.

And crucially it will give Boro TWO chances to secure European football.

THERE IS an eerie calm on the streets of Planet Boro. There hasn’t been a sniping incident for a week.

The once fearful optimists are walking tall and even former terrace target Steve McClaren feels safe enough to return to the technical area protected by his bullet proof smile.

But the war is far from over. As Gerry Adams said of the IRA, the boo-boys haven’t gone away you know.

STUART Parnaby: Goal machine!

Boro's very own Shayne Ward lookalike was a smash hit as he fired in the all important second away goal in Stuttgart to have the wild eyed optimists on Teesside booking flights to Rome.

BEATING Chelsea could prove to be a double-edged sword for Steve McClaren.

Yes it is 'magnificent' that Boro battered the champions. Yes it was a superb example of the sum adding up to more than the parts. And yes it was a morale-booster that banished the relegation blues.

But on the downside a new standard has now been set and people will now quite rightly demand Boro do that to lesser teams every week.

And they will be asking why it hasn't happened every week before now.

AS STEVE McClaren says, a week is a long time in football.

It is a long time between Gazette columns too, especially with the frenetic pace and heightened emotions on Planet Boro in a dramatic season crackling with all the tension of a crucial cup final stoppage time penalty.