Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Boro 4 Charlton 2
With so many games recently it would be easy to make excuses for defeat in such important games, but Basle gave us the scent of winning, confidence and goalscoring ease. Charlton made a fast start from the blocks and the much talked about Darren Bent could have had two in the first ten minutes, forcing us into comeback mode again. But no, their early ascendence was snuffed out by a long range Rochemback free kick that curled, caught their keeper unsighted and crept in the net. "Operation Riverside" (Charlton fans attempt to turn the away disadvantage into a home game atmosphere) was derailed and then back on again in about a minute, when Bryan Hughes found himself totally undefended in the penalty area straight from the re-start. The makings of a good game, but quite frustrating.More possession and control led to our second from James Morrison, with a hint of an own goal from replacement defender Fortune. Either way we had the lead again and looked wary of letting it go so easily this time. A classic cup tie developed in the second half with chances for both sides until the pressure was relieved by Jimmy Floyd, a sweet move and a trademark netbuster to make it 3-1. Mirroring the first half, our celebrations were still echoing in our throats when they replied with a lucky goal, deflected off Gareth Southgate from a goalmouth scramble. Unphased, Morrison, Downing and Rochemback did everything right, as they had done most of the game, eventually presenting Mark Viduka with a chance 99% of all players in the world would not have been able to make - twisting one way then the other before placing it inch perfect for a decisive winner. The Aussie is in the form of his life and it was a delight to end the tie in that way.
So, two semi-finals! Bloody hell! And we deserve it. Key players are coming to form at just the right time, and with a congested fixture list of six games in 14 days we are sure going to need that. We are one game away form another season in Europe through the FA cup, with Liverpool and Chelsea not needing their Uefa spot whoever gets to the final from West Ham and us gets the prize! On current form the Hammers must be terrified of us, with only a scrappy league win over us during our bad patch and our possible fatigue to pin their hopes to. As the boss says - we must take advantage of this position. I suspect the upcoming league games will be an opportunity to field some more youngsters as we prepare for the big ones. Exciting times regardless.
My MOTM: Praise to Morrison and Downing out wide, but Mark Viduka is different class just now and wins my vote.
