Sunday, March 12, 2006
Charlton 2 Boro 1
An opportunity wasted! With on e eye on the all important return leg in Rome on Wednesday, Steve McClaren made 9 changes to the team that beat them 1-0 at the Riverside. Giving starts to Mark Viduka, Massimo Maccarone, Ray Parlour and the long missed Tony McMahon amongst others. It still didn't look a bad side on paper, an encouraging note that the squad is almost back at full strength. Boro more or less dominated the first half, with an impressive shot count and an offensive line that did everything but put the ball in the net. Shots from Parlour, Johnson and Viduka all came close but no cigar.The same could be said of the second half, with Charlton looking fairly limp going forward. However, they got the first goal against the run of play via the ever dangerous Darren Bent. A sense of injustice was assuaged a few minutes later when another cracker from Viduka leveled things up. Ten minutes to go and an away draw looked like a reasonable if not wholly satisfactory result. But up popped Bent again to steal a cruel winner for the London side, rubbing in a day of part injustice part tactical misjudgment - the game and all three points were ours for the taking but the killer instinct was missing somewhat. Even a late show for Yakubu couldn't bring any joy, with Adam Johnson (our man of the match) coming closest late on by forcing another first class save from Thomas Mhyre (their man of the match).
So our game in hand on the teams immediately above us comes to nought. We will have to wait a bit longer to leapfrog Villa, Charlton and then Newcastle, but you still feel than in the run in we will be the strongest of those four. It is wise, to a degree, to have given so much thought to Roma in midweek, as the Uefa Cup represents an excellent chance of getting straight back in the competition for the third year running - by winning the thing! With rested players and the Italian side losing their last game in serie A we must stand a great chance of going one step closer to that goal.
My MOTM: Adam Johnson, proving that even if fit Stewart Downing is not a shoe-in for a first team place.
