Overall, Boro were the better side and deserved the win, although tonight’s Comedy Ref, a certain Mr Green of Leicestershire did his level best to ruin the game for everyone.
Brucie watch revealed the Great Man wearing a fetching pale blue shirt, with a jumper casually draped over his shoulders. Think Man at C&A and you’ll get the general idea.
Also during Brucie watch I think I spotted Paul Barron amongst Boro’s coaching staff. I owe that git one – I used to attend his Brazilian Football Training sessions a few years back and I’ve still got the aching muscles to prove it!
To the game: It was a game of two halves – the first, followed by a second. Boro started off much the stronger, using the flanks to bypass Cisse and Carter in central midfield.They’ve got a cracking left sided midfielder called Stewart Downing, who I’ve seen a couple of times before. I don’t think he’s related to former Boro favourite John Downing.
Anyhow, Downing ran Lee Vaughan, Blues very young fullback, absolutely ragged. Blues struggled to find any rhythm and passes were going astray all over the shop. Boro took the lead after 22 minutes when Mr Green elected to enliven proceedings by awarding them a Mystery Penalty. I overheard a couple of the Boro lads trying to work out what it was for. They couldn’t. Mark Wilson put the penalty away, beating Bennett who’d already made a couple of very good saves, including a belter from a fierce drive by Allan Johnston.
Boro continued to dominate and it was no surprise when they extended their lead after 40 minutes. If we were mystified by the first goal, there could be no complaints about the second. Centre Forward Jamie Cade turned Blues teenage defender Duane Courtney inside out before streaking through and placing the ball past Benno.
Feeling left out of things, Mr Green decided to project himself back to his rightful position atop his mental pedestal. He booked Cisse for ‘persistent fouling’ following an incident where he’d fallen over a Boro midfielder who was lying on the ball and handling it! The joke was, Hughes, Carter and Boro’s Gary Smith had all been niggling away at opponents without even conceding a free kick. Mr Green hadn’t even noticed them whereas the dreadlocked Cisse, rather like the shaggy-haired Savage will always catch the eye of those who don’t know what they’re looking at.
Blues made it 2-1 with a goal by Hughes after 44 minutes, following some dogged Horse-like work by Morrison who held off two defenders before setting up the chance.
Following a belly-buster burger at half time, I settled down to watch a totally different Blues performance. They came out firing on all cylinders and played like the first XI, closing down all over the pitch, harrying, tackling and generally dominating proceedings. Some of us on the touchline enjoyed some banter with the linesman, a burly, balding fellow with a goatee, looking somewhat reminiscent of an Afrikaans Voortrekker. He was making his decisions based on who was appealing the loudest. I could do that job – running the line by proxy. How much does it pay?
Blues made a few substitutions, Clinton and Cisse went off to great acclaim, replaced by Motteram and Barrowman, both of whom did OK. Cisse had had a reasonable game, I think his English now stretches as far as ‘man on’, ‘OK’, and ‘to me’.
After about 70 minutes, Mr Green finally realised what was going on and booked Hughes, but only after he legged some bloke about twelve feet into the air! For purposes of balance, he decided to book a couple of Boro players. In all, he contrived to book six players, so at least he’s got his lottery numbers ready for Saturday.
Boro wrapped the game up with a cracking free kick from the ever-impressive Downing, beating Benno all end up. Why on earth Downing can’t get into Boro’s first team must be one of the great mysteries of our time, given some of the overpaid foreign garbage that they turn out week after week.
In conclusion – the best team won, Morrison and Cisse made solid progress back toward fitness, Mr Green had a nice evening and the burgers and Bovril at Solihull are as good as ever.
Blues: Ian Bennett, Lee Vaughan, Marcus Painter, Aliou Cisse, Duane Courtney, David Arrowsmith, Peter Till, Jovan Kirovski, Clinton Morrison, Bryan Hughes, Darren Carter. Subs: Mark Allen, Adam Legzdins, Chad Shephard, Carl Motteram, Andrew Barrowman.
Results 2003-4
