6 minutes ago, SimonD said:

I'll raise your 4-0 with a 5-0.

Stoke have beaten us 5-0 recently, so we owe them a five-fer..

I'd happily settle for another 90th minute winner from Burgzorg. Not sure I'd enjoy the previous 89 minutes however in that scenario.

14 minutes ago, SimonD said:

I'll raise your 4-0 with a 5-0.

Stoke have beaten us 5-0 recently, so we owe them a five-fer..

that was their kids, their first team isnt that good

1 hour ago, Rob said:

that was their kids, their first team isnt that good

10-0 then.

I have picked an attacking team for this one, you will see Leo make his first start against Stoke.

I could go into detail but I will save that for my 38 minute press conference which you can all enjoy.

6 minutes ago, KimHellberg said:

I have picked an attacking team for this one, you will see Leo make his first start against Stoke.

I could go into detail but I will save that for my 38 minute press conference which you can all enjoy.

🤔

1 minute ago, Blanco said:

🤔

A silly joke.

Love a bit of Hellball, drinking in the koolaid

5 hours ago, Neverbefore said:

Is anyone else waiting patiently for @TheJew to make his prediction given the return of a popular feature to the forum...?

5 hours ago, Neverbefore said:

Is anyone else waiting patiently for @TheJew to make his prediction given the return of a popular feature to the forum...?

5 hours ago, Blanco said:

9,000,000 penguins lined up and waiting 😂

13 hours ago, Neverbefore said:

Is anyone else waiting patiently for @TheJew to make his prediction given the return of a popular feature to the forum...?

Stop giving a troll oxygen.

14 hours ago, Redcar Rioja said:

Bazunu looked like a great upcoming Keeper a while back but as his career progressed he now seems to have become some sort of comedic Pantomime villain. Just hope he has a few clangers in him on Wednesday and not do what most stand-in Keepers seem to do against us!

I think he was one of them keepers everyone wanked off over for being ‘good with his feet’. Been reading southamptons match threads regularly when they got Azaz and they always kept going on about shots going straight through him, or he parry’s shots into dangerous areas.

Hopefully Conway can get a couple of well hit efforts and one of them probably goes in. Fancy Silvera and Whittaker aswell who are both good strikers of the ball.

Second of three visits to the midlands in quick succession that feels like it might define our season. Come away from WBA, Stoke and Coventry unbeaten and you have to think we're genuine top two contenders. Slip up and it feels more like we're aiming to consolidate 3rd/4th.

I don't expect any of our injuries to return though maybe one or two of them might end up on the bench. Interesting seeing the U21 line up the other day as well. Castledine was the only one of our "fringe" players who didn't play which implies that although he's unlikely to start against Stoke, there's good odds KH will be hoping for 30 minutes out of him.

I think KH might start with Burgzorg up top rather than Conway to give Conway a breather. I think Conway's running on vapours right now. Other than that, we pretty much only have 11 fit and in-form players. Maybe Hamilton might have finally clicked after the U21 match but I think those were mostly gifted goals. Also, let's face it, if neither Sene nor Strelec are fit, Ibeh has done himself no harm at all.

Funnily enough, we don't have a bad record at Stoke. It always feels like a bogey ground and Robins is one of our many nemeses as a manager but we actually won 3-1 there last season with Robins in charge.

Barring new injuries, predicting just one change

Brynn
Browne - Malanda - Ayling - Targett
Hackney - Morris
Whittaker - Gilbert
Silvera - Burgzorg

If anyone had said at the start of the season that I would have thought our best available forward line in a match in January was Silvera, Whittaker, Burgzorg and Gilbert I would have assumed we were fighting relegation. As it is, I think we might come away with a 2-0 win on Wednesday.

On 18/01/2026 at 17:32, edinboro said:

I think Fry might come in for this. I think Ayling might be running on empty. I also think there is a question to ask as to whether there is anything to lose by giving Ibeh a run out up front. So a potential line up, assuming no new injuries and no returning players

Ibeh

Whittaker Gilbert Silvera

Hackney Morris

Targett Malanda Fry Browne

Brynn

I cant see him dropping Conway for Ibeh. He might fancy Conway in that LW role but csnt see him being left out.

Not our favourite team to play against but with their injury situation I hope we can better the draw we had at The Riverside

A number of players who played for both team

1908/12 Fred Pentland - 96 games, scoring 11 goals he was intervened in Germany during the first world war & organised a high level football league inside the camp featuring a group of England internationals. Afterwards he led France to the Olympics. Signed for Stoke in 1913
1911/14 John Stirling - An out-side right he played a big part in our highest ever top flight finish of 3rd in 1913/14 playing 112 games, scoring 8 goals, making many a goal for George Elliott & Jacky Carr. Signed for Stoke in 1919
1938/39 Charlie Scrimshaw - After 9 years at Stoke Wilf Gillow signed him hoping he would produce the form considered good enough to play for England but it wasn't to be at the Boro in our second best finish in the top flight of 4th he was used sparingly with only 9 appearances, zero goals
1977/1981 John Mahoney –John Neal 1st signing & our record signing at the time, joined the Boro in July 1977 for £90,000. "I didn't want to leave but when I looked at the fixture list, Stoke were away at Mansfield & Boro at home to Liverpool, I knew I had to go." He spent two seasons at Ayresome Park making 90 appearances
1982/84 Mick Kennedy - A big Boro favourite 68 games/5 goals his final 2 goals came on his 22nd birthday v Derby in a 3-2 home defeat - Stoke 1990/92 he played 52 games, scoring 3 goals
1983/86 Peter Beagrie - Such an exciting winger played 35 games for Boro, scoring 2 goals sadly left the club during our liquidation crises, never forgotten by a section of Boro fans. Signed for Stoke in 1988
1988/90 Chris Kamara - Stoke 60 games/5 goals - February 1993 LL signed CM on a one-month loan, his spell at the Boro lasted just 5 games/zero goals, the Boro couldn't afford to offer him a permanent contract - 17th loaned player when loaned from Luton Town
1989/94 Nicky Mohan – 1989/94 99 games/9 goals -  Stoke 92 games/6 goals.
1991/96 Graham Kavanagh - Played 35 games for Boro, scoring 3 goals - Signed for Stoke from the Boro where he had the honour of scoring Stoke's first goal at the Britannia Stadium in a League Cup match against Rochdale. 244 games/45 goals.
1992 Brian Horne - Became 16th loaned player & 3rd sub keeper (Bryan Orritt replaced Bob Appleby our first ever sub at Ayresome Park & Pat Cuff replaced Jim Platt in an away ASC fixture) when replacing injured Ian Ironside in the 55th minute. Loaned from Millwall he played in goal 4 times for the Boro, becoming our 49th different first team GK- Stoke 1992 one game
2001/06 Mark Wilson - Played 44 games, scoring 2 goals, with game time rare at the Boro we loaned him to Stoke in 2003
2000/03 Mark Crossley - At Boro he played 23 games - 2003 Boro loaned Crossley to Stoke where he played in 12 matches helping the club avoid relegation from the First Division.
2002/08 & on loan in 2011 Andrew Davies - 59 games/zero goals, becoming our 49th loaned player when loaned from Southampton - Returned 2nd spell - 27th at the Riverside. Stoke 2008/12 2 games/zero goals

2003/10 Chris Riggott - Became our 31st loaned player - Signed on loan from Derby then after 5 games signed permanently - 9th at the Riverside, made 148 appearances, scoring 8 goals. Signed on loan to Stoke from Boro in 2008
2003/06 Michael Rickets - 38 games for Boro, scoring 4 goals. Loaned to Stoke in 2005
2003 Carlo Nash - Our 60th different first team GK played 5 games including the Brighton league cup first round on the way to our trophy win. Signed for Stoke in 2008
2003 John Eustace - He became our 32nd loaned player when loaned from Coventry, our 10th at the Riverside - made one substitute appearance for the Boro, away to Liverpool, where he appeared for only the final two minutes of the game & was booked - Stoke 2003/08 74 games/5 goals
2003 Frazer Richardson –  Stoke 13 games/1 goal - 2013/14 Boro 11 games/zero goals.
2006/7 2007/8 & 2012/16 Jonathan Woodgate - 3 Boro spells  37th loaned player when loaned from Real Madrid - 15th at the Riverside 103  games/2 goals - Stoke 2011/12 17 games/zero goals
2006/09 Robert Huth –  Boro 53 games/2 goals - Signed for Stoke for £5M 2009/15 149 games/13 goals 
2007/09 Tuncay Şanlı - Boro 78 games/18 goals - Signed for Stoke for £5m 2009/11 44 games/5 goals
2007 Ritchie De Laet - He signed a 3 year contract with Championship club Stoke City for an initial £100,000 fee, didn't play a single game for Stoke - Boro 2016 10 games/zero goals 10 games on loan for the Boro - 77th loaned player - Loaned from Leicester City - 55th at the Riverside
2009 Dave Kitson – 2008/10 Stoke 34 games/3 goals - Our 43rd loaned player when loaned from Stoke City - 21st at the Riverside 6 games/3 goals.
2013/15 Dean Whitehead - 2009/13 Stoke 132 games/3 goals – Boro 55 games/one goal
2010/19 Ben Gibson - 113 games for Boro, scoring 4 goals. Signed for Stoke his present club in 2024
2013 Frazer Rchardson - On loan to Stoke from Leeds in 2003. Signed for Boro in 2013 playing 11 games, zero goals
2013/14 Shay Given - 60th loaned player  when loaned from Aston Villa - 38th at the Riverside - 5th GK - Aitor Karankas 1st home game as manager - Boro  16 games - Stoke 2015/17 8 games
2017/20 Ryan Shotton - Started out at Stoke.  At Boro he made 84 appearances, scoring 1 goal
2018/19 Andrew Lonergan - Our 76th different first team GK played only the two games. Signed for Stoke in 2020
2018/19 Aiden Flint - 39 games for Boro, scoring the one goal - Stoke 2022/23 9 games/zero goals
2022/24 Tommy Smith - After becoming a free agent when released from Stoke he signed for Boro where he played 47 games, without scoring

11 hours ago, Erimus 63 said:

Stop giving a troll oxygen.

its inevitable

Press Conference from Hellberg is at 1pm today.

Tough game this with Stoke sitting just 2 points outside the Playoffs. Hopefully we will take our chances again and shore up in defence a bit better. Be interesting to see if McGree and Strelec are back in the squad. And what about Fry? Will he take the spot from Ayling when he's fit enough, or will he have to make do with a bench squad due to his inability to stay fit ie. it's better to have Dael on the bench for every match than to start him and see him get injured for the next month again.