Monday, April 17, 2006
Boro 2 West Ham 0
More first team rest days and starts for Bates, Wheater and substitutes role for Massimo Maccarone. As Bernie Slaven said on Century FM commentary, we had maybe five or six who would start next Sunday, whereas they were almost full strength. Even so, it was obvious very early on who was most likely to win the day. It is getting hard to keep track of what happened in what game as the Easter schedule piles the pressure on the joints and the muscles and you have to wonder how much the players are on auto-pilot too?Franck Queudrue came back in, still sporting his bandages and looked like the first goalscorer of the afternoon with some delightful interplay with Viduka to burst through their defense, one two and just miss at the far post. The wait wasn't too long though before Jimmy Floyd fired in yet another bullet to put pressure on the Yak for seasons top scorer. At the break we looked totally in control. In the second half when Adam Johnson went down in the box it was all set for an easy afternoon. Jimmy was in charitable mood and allowed Maccarone to step up for the penalty, which he jst managed to squeeze past Hislop's outstretched right hand. Game over and a chance to ease of the pedals as the clock ticked down.
Everybody knows the FA cup semi will be a completely different game, but, to be honest, I can't see what they can do to live with us full strength, unless luck is the biggest factor of the day - and it often is, so I'm not counting any chickens, but if we score early it is ours to lose; they are average at best, and even though very tough when they have their backs up, so are we and I predict a similar scoreline at Villa Park come the Sabbeth. In the league, up to 13th and above Man City with 43 points and a game in hand. 50 points and a top ten finish are still a slight possibility, but now let's turn our heads to Romania...!
My MOTM: Matthew Bates, a classy assist for the first goal and solid at the back covering for the big boys.
