Monday, February 20, 2006
Preston 0 Boro 2
Four wins on the bounce and a place in the all premiership last eight of the FA Cup. All of a sudden it's happy days being a Boro fan again. It did take a while to stoke the engines in this one though, with even Match of the Day struggling to find 10 seconds of highlights from the first half. Preston boasted an unbeaten record stretching to 25 games and were only 10 places below Boro, nestling in a play-off berth in the championship, but their attacking prowess left a lot to be desired, even in front of their home fans at Deepdale.As much to do with Boro's improved defense as anything, with Riggott and Southgate looking commanding now their partnership has had time to gel and Franck back at left back complete with a new Mohawk haircut. Second half and Boro's superior fitness began to tell, with just a half yard of pace to the ball making all the difference. Bringing on Hasselbaink was a good move, his scrapping leading to Yakubu's excellent play and his first goal, a true scorcher hit on the half volley. From there the opposition looked immediately beaten , with little threat of an equaliser. And when the Yak popped up at the far post for the second the wind was truly taken out of their sails.
The good news is that it is another quarter final and a continuation of a mini revival. The bad news is that with all premiership teams left there is sure to be no easy draw. Any home tie would be nice, and avoiding Chelsea or Liverpool would be good too. And as I say that hot news from the FA tells me that the latter wish is granted but that we will have to overcome another away tie - it is a trip to The Valley for a tough physical game against Charlton - could have been much worse. Nice to just be in the hat.
My MOTM: Yakubu would be the obvious choice with 2 more goals, but credit to Riggott for a clean sheet and a strong performance all round.
