Boro Vs Brentford (Away) 1-0

[southern softy 10]

I reckon we need to win 12 of our last 18 games to ensure automatic promotion. Karanka and his resolute defensesive unit and strategy (barring an injury crisis)will ensure that we have no problem getting at  least 12 clean sheets. We need our attacking personnel to find their accuracy in front of goal. They are all class strikers who at the moment are suffering from a drought of goals. Sooner (hopefully) rather than later we will undoubtably  inflict a deluge of goals on some team, which will open the floodgates until the end of the season.

[Pyro 7]

Absolutely delighted! Brentford showed why their home record is so strong and I was a little concerned they won alot of 50/50's in the first half, but as many of you have said to play the way we did and take all three points is massive! Lets hope we come out firing at home next weekend!

[Neverbefore 10,942]

I had an amazing afternoon. I went down to laverys in belfast expecting it to be just me cheering on boro, instead i met 3 boro locals and 2 belfast local boro fans all crowded around the one screen as Newcastle played in the background! The boro couple i met were a particular treat as we spent the whole afternoon together and shall be coming to.visit them at some point! Fantastic!

[Teacider 108]

Just back in after the game (and I only live in London!) and my takes on it:

 

Overall poor performance particularly in first half, but being able to play badly and win is so key to going up, so chuffed with the result.

 

We struggled to create anything in first half, but have to remember that they are up there challenging and are a good team.

 

Vossen showed such commitment today, worked really hard with little support at times.

 

Forshaw injected some much needed energy in second half, not much time to judge but looked decent.

 

Will be glad when Ayala is back in for big Ken,

 

Thought bamford not at his best today, showed flashes of his class but got a bit lost in the battle for long spells.

 

Great result, if not such a great performance

[p_mards 1,365]

Good story about Adomah's Dad, who was at the game:

 

[OldManGravz 1,350]

What a great day out with MMC and two lads off Fmttm. Didn't play brilliantly but three points is EXACTLY what you need to take in matches like that. Griffin Park is great too, who can complain at a pub on EVERY corner?

[Nics 8]

I had an amazing afternoon. I went down to laverys in belfast expecting it to be just me cheering on boro, instead i met 3 boro locals and 2 belfast local boro fans all crowded around the one screen as Newcastle played in the background! The boro couple i met were a particular treat as we spent the whole afternoon together and shall be coming  to.visit them at some point! Fantastic!

 

Fantastic, so it is so it is so it is! 

[boro-unger 3,870]

I had an amazing afternoon. I went down to laverys in belfast expecting it to be just me cheering on boro, instead i met 3 boro locals and 2 belfast local boro fans all crowded around the one screen as Newcastle played in the background! The boro couple i met were a particular treat as we spent the whole afternoon together and shall be coming  to.visit them at some point! Fantastic!

 

Fantastic, so it is so it is so it is! 

 

So says Tony O'Mowbray anyway.

[Tom 2,492]

Well it was a funny game, for me today. We tend to have a spell in every game where the opposing team gets on top and we have a bit of pressure on us. Today, that spell pretty much encompassed about 70 minutes of the game. Brentford will feel hard done by, and I can't blame them. But I'm not in the mood for sentiment, and the three points today are possibly the most important (along with Derby) of the season.

I thought the officials had an awful game. I know we got the penalty, but even that was wrong - surely that has to be a red? Mind you, it was very similar to the one Bamford won against Forest, and Darlow wasn't even booked that time.

Here's my ratings:

 

Dimi - 8. Commanding, and showed his agility as well. He is the man.

 

Fredericks - 6. Surprised he started, even more surprised he played the full 90 (95. What was that all about?!) Good to have him back, but unsurprisingly looked rusty.

 

Gibson - 8. MOTM. I'm going to admit something. I had Gibson down as a bit of a liability before this season. Always thought his ties to the club clouded people's ability to see that he was a bit error prone. Whether it's AK getting the best out of him, or just me being wrong, I've got nothing but love for him now. He just kept getting there.

 

Omeruo - 6. He wasn't as bad as some people have made out, but he did look a bit clumsy. I hope that getting 90 today will give us the old Ken back next week. That said, his marking and reading the game is still top drawer, and he made a fantastic interception in the second half.

 

Friend - 7. Penned back a lot more than usual, but dealt with his man. Love to hear him shouting across the back line.

 

Clayton - 7. Agree with the statement (Naughty Boy I think) that he wasn't at his best today, but put his foot in when needed and never stopped running.

 

Leadbitter - 6. Big brass balls on him, as ever, to take the penalty in front of their fans, and grateful he stuck it away. But I actually thought he was poor today. A couple of times he let his man get away, and going forward he made a few bad decisions.

 

Bamford - 7. Silly booking, and faded quite a bit in the second half, but in the first half he was sharp, and seemed to be able to make space for himself when others couldn't. He didn't score, but his contribution towards the goal was vital. I make that our 3 last penalties that he has won us.

 

Tomlin - 6. Not really in the game. I remember him making two first class passes, and if something had come from them, he'd have been praised. As it is, he was a bit underwhelming.

 

Adomah - 5. Not good enough today. Would be surprised if he started against Charlton. Nothing seemed to come off for him.

 

Vossen - 8. Wish he'd been on the end of some of those chances instead of making them. It is going to click for him with a run of starts.

 

SUBS

 

Forshaw - 7. Looked tidy, hopefully will make more of an impact than Veljkovic. With 5 games in 15 days coming up, he will very possibly start 1 or 2, so we'll get to see a bit more of him.

 

Reach - 7. Should have come on earlier maybe, but held the ball out wide well.

 

Kike - n/a. I quite like that he got booked for stopping them taking a free kick.

 

BORO - 6. Not vintage. They were a good side, and we could be sat here talking about a draw, and how we were lucky to get that. But this is a Boro team that can do 'backs to the wall' alongside the best of them, and the team spirit and work ethic the lads have shows they want to play for each other. The celebrations at the final whistle at City last week were special, but today was actually better in a way, every one of them seemed to realise the importance of it. We also broke the 'not won in 3 away league games', 'not beaten a top half side away' AND '8 games without a first half goal' ducks, so success in that respect!

I'm not saying it will, but this COULD knock the wind out of Brentford's sails, and start a bit of a downward turn for them, with tricky fixtures against Watford and Bournemouth coming up. And another challenger heading in the wrong direction can only be a good thing.

 

Up the Boro.

[Prowler 197]

 

I had Gibson down as a bit of a liability before this season. Always thought his ties to the club clouded people's ability to see that he was a bit error prone. Whether it's AK getting the best out of him, or just me being wrong 

 

 

Bit of you being wrong and a case of Gibson being only 21!

[Tom 2,492]

 

I had Gibson down as a bit of a liability before this season. Always thought his ties to the club clouded people's ability to see that he was a bit error prone. Whether it's AK getting the best out of him, or just me being wrong 

 

 

Bit of you being wrong and a case of Gibson being only 21!

 

Perhaps. In any case, I hold my hands up, called it all wrong! 

[Dynamo Kev 1,557]

just seen the highlights on tfls. adomah sitter!!! we need wingers who can put the ball in the net. if we do go up we'll struggle for goals with adomah and reach out wide. they need to start bagging goals, or thy are going to be my new boo boys. although reach i'll let off a for bit because he has the most assists and its his first full season. adomah thought!! defend him for his workrate and attitude all you like his end product seems to get worse every game. not good enough, he is far better than what he's showing.

[p_mards 1,365]

Against Charlton I'd be tempted to put Kalas in for Omeruo as we massively lacked Ayala's physical presence and solidity today, which Kalas could provide that much more than Omeruo. Last season Omeruo was immense but has struggled to recapture that form this season.

 

Wildschut wasn't even on the bench again today, with even Ledesma ahead of him, which must be concerning for him. Plus with Carayol due back soon, Wildschut's chances could get even more limited. My first impression of him was that he was pretty poor technically and more of a "project", so hopefully he is making progress on the technical side of his game, as his pace and power won't be enough long-term.

[Downsouth 6,327]

This was the 2nd time only so far this season we have won by a 1-0 score

[2plus2 290]

Was at the game yesterday. Certainly a case of winning ugly!

 

Though I think it's important to remember that it was always a case of us preventing them from scoring, instead of a load of glaring misses. Dimi pushed one on to the post and made a wonder save early on. Gibson off the line. Some good last ditch challenges. Other then that it was a few long distance screamers that went narrowly wide and a difficult headed miss. Had they gone in you'd just have to hold your hands up and say fair play.

 

The only disappointment for me what the number of poorly played long balls in the first half. Offensively we were awful. Second half I think we bossed the game though. Sure, Brentford were generally on the front foot, and will rightly feel very hard done by to not have at least drawn the game, but they created very little once we had the lead. And we looked dangerous on the break. Not a bad away performance by any means.

 

A special mention for Vossen who I think worked his socks off. I remember him at one point pegging it after a ball near the corner flag and bounding straight into a poorly place lawnmower! But he just brushed himself off and got on with it. Then again, everyone worked hard. Very impressive in that sense.