Football, Football, Football

One of my more far-flung readers has complained that the blog did not contain mention of last night’s football match. That is because it was almost midnight when we arrived back from a pulsating if somewhat one sided game. I also felt that it would be better to allow time for reflection rather than diving straight in. Well here goes.

The game in question was for the right to play one final game at Wembley to decide who will enter the Premier League next season. Middlesbrough led 2 to 1 from the away leg last week at Brentford. We arrived early anticipating a sell-out crowd, even then we were unable to park as near the ground as usual. (There are some disadvantages of a full ground). By the time kick off arrived the ground was full except for a few spaces amongst the Brentford supporters. The noise as the teams entered the arena was deafening.

At first both teams stated at 100 mph with very little football being played, and Boro in particular being very physical. Gradually the Boro midfield started to impose themselves on the game and started to set a pattern. Brentford had very little dangerous possession in the final third of the field. The first goal came midway through the first half. It was a peach of a shot from a central position after some excellent wing play. This calmed my nerves, ever the pessimist I was anticipating Boro fluffing their lines on the big occasion.

In the second half with Brentford needing to sore two goals they had to be more aggressive, and for the first ten minutes it looked as though they might score. Brentford had a couple of chances, but by now with Boro playing on the counter attack looked vulnerable as was proved. Both second half goals were effectively the result of counter attacks. With a four-goal lead the last ten minutes became a formality with the crowd running through their repertoire of chants and songs.

At the end there was a ritual pitch invasion and a parade of the players. 

The most important thing was that we are now going to contest the play-off at Wembley on Monday week. With Iain we already have our tickets. There will doubtless be a blog after that about our trip to the Twin Towers (oops showing my age there).