Middlesbrough v Rovers

[Dare2Dream]

I thought we played well. During the first half we were the better side. I thought the defence was good and to disagree with Snods Shinpad I thought Thomas & Killagallon were both good, and especially Killagallon (I'd say it was possibly his best game- although he's still a long way short of what we/I was expecting when he signed). It was never a free-kick for the opening goal- the ref made a few strange decisions during that 5 minute period, we should have also in my opinion have had a penalty for the foul on James O'Connor in the second half.

I think we lost the game when we took Moussa off. Suddenly there were quite large gaps in our midfield when we'd changed to 4-3-3 (with Hayter & Sharp now patnered by Moussa), and they simply exploited the space. I thought going forward especially in the second half I thought that Gillett (sorry to disagree Snods again), Wilson, Euell and Hayter were very disappointing, and for whatever reason- most likely the absence of Copps, we seemed to be missing something. Oster to me was playing two roles to make up for the lack of Copps, which he deserves credit for, although with a greater workload that he's forced to take up, he wouldn't have been able to play his best. I also felt Sullivan made some decent saves, and its quite unfair if what could be his last game for us ended with that scoreline.

Also the fans who travelled were fantastic. Hopefully we can keep that up next season, and try and get the atmosphere that good for home games too. On the pitch, however, we need more strength in depth, I think everyone who's attended a few games this season knows that. Although we should never have the injury crisis like we've had in these last few months again in the near future.

[RoversDave]