By Come on Boro.com
February 26 2006

Relegation six-pointers are always tense affairs and there was plenty of extra spice in this one. Robbo and Big Nige, Jesus Greening's scandalous accusations of Boro being an unhappy club, memories of Kanu's miss of the century last season This is as real as it gets, so fasten your seat belts and get ready for a bumpy ride.

Boro went 5-3-2 with The Yak and JFH leading the line up front. Mad-Dog was restored to a three man central midfield after serving his second suspension of the season. Stewart Downing was missing from the squad. There were rumours of a bust-up doing the rounds, as there were about Mark Viduka three weeks ago.

Schwarzer, Queudrue, Riggott, Southgate, Pogatetz, Parnaby, Cattermole, Boateng, Mendieta (Davies 75), Hasselbaink (Maccarone 72), Yakubua (Viduka 88)
Jones, Ehiogu

THE FIRST HALF

Boro should have taken the lead in the first minute as an apparently fired up midfield fed The Yak whose shot only just went over the bar. Boro had made a very bright start but West Brom hit back straight away as Greening played a neat ball to Camara who demonstrated his blinding pace and got a shot in that Skippy held well.

Straight back up the other end and another Yakubu shot was pushed past the post by Kuszczak for a corner from which Boro failed to do anything with.

The action stayed in the midfield area for the next ten minutes. Lee Cattermole gave away a free-kick with a clattering challenge on Jonathan Greening and Gareth Southgate did exactly the same on fourteen minutes. Greening took the free-kick himself and forced Skippy into his second save of the day.

West Brom were starting to create opportunities around the Boro box now, the best of which came when Albrechtsen nutmegged Mad-Dog and got in a shot from an acute angle. But it was Boro who took the lead on seventeen minutes as they broke out of their own half, the front pair combining well as Yakubu burst through the midfield and found Jimmy unmarked who went one-on-one with Kuszczak and beat him convincingly.

WEST BROM 0 MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Hasselbaink 17)

The Baggies crowd was silenced after the goal as Boro's confidence soared and we surged forward in search of a second. Mad-Dog played a fantastic ball into the box on twenty-three minutes but the three players who were waiting in the attacking postions failed to get on the end of it.

A minute later Kanu gave us a reminder of why he was the object of such derision last season as he completely missed a straightforward shot that may have led to an equaliser if he had connected.

On thirty-two minutes, Kanu did connect and find a way through but Captain Gareth stopped him making any further progress as he pulled the striker back. He was booked for his efforts and nothing came from the resulting free-kick.

West Brom continued to press forward in search of an equaliser, Quashie especially looking dangerous, but Boro were equal to all that the Baggies could throw at them.

As half-time approached Boro won a free-kick on the edge of the West Brom box which Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink took his time taking. He hit it as sweet as a nut and the ball deflected off Ronny Wallwork and settled into the left hand corner of the net. Game over... Hang on, we are Middlesbrough. Game nearly over.

WEST BROM 0 MIDDLESBROUGH 2 (Hasselbaink 43)

Jonathan Greening was very close to pulling one back straight from the restart but his shot was slightly high and went over the bar. The Baggies fans booed off their team as the whistle sounded. It's hard to imagine that happening at The Riverside at the moment.

FIRST HALF FAN REACTION

"A very comfortable half for Boro. We can only throw it away now. Relegation? Yer' jokin' aren't ya?"
Mike Read

THE SECOND HALF

Boro made no changes for the second half and Franck Queudrue kept the two goal margin intact with a blinding tackle on Camara in the first minute after the restart. Lee Cattermole was booked a couple of minutes later as Kanu's groin collided with Cattermole's boot.

The Baggies were attacking heavily now and Boro, although under a slight amount of pressure were always ready to hit the opposition on the counter attack.

Everything that West Brom were trying to do was disrupted in the fifty-third minute as George Boateng dispossessed Quashie who reacted by kicking out at George. It was not particularly malicious but the referee saw it as violent conduct and didn't hesitate to send Quashie for an early bath.

Robbo rearranged his team by withdrawing Kevin Campbell and replacing him with Kozak and straight after the substitution, Greening was allowed to get another shot in that he sent wide.

Boro hadn't really got going in the second half as the hour mark passed but Albion were not really posing a great threat to our two goal advantage. The feeling was there that all Boro had to do to kill off West Brom was to step up the pace a little but the team chose to sit back instead and soak up whatever Albion could throw at us.

On seventy-two minutes, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was taken off, which was inevitable really as he had two goals to his name. On came Hail Massimo to team up with The Yak in the quest for Boro's third strike of the day. Baggies fans started to drift towards the exits as they gave up any hope of getting back into this one.

Hail Massimo and The Yak combined really well as they broke forward in a counter attack but the Yak's final touch let him down. On seventy-five minutes, Kanu sent in a piledriver of a shot that was help well by Skippy.

Shortly afterwards Andrew Davies came on to replace Gaizka Mendieta as Boro changed formation to 4-4-2 with Stuart Parnaby moving into a midfield position.

INTO THE RED ZONE

There is always a danger of Boro conceding after making a substitution if you hadn't already noticed that pattern emerging. Camara burst through our back line and luckily for us he sent his shot over the bar.

You could be forgiven for thinking that there seems to be some sort of conspiracy against Boro strikers scoring three in a match but the team itself were now cruising towards their second hat-trick of the season. We've already seen off the 'big three' at home and now we've beaten the West Midlands three away from home.

With just a couple of minutes remaining, The Yak was taken off and Mark Viduka was introduced for his first run out for a few weeks. There was little time for him to make a difference and the game most certainly did not feel like a battle between two teams threatened with relegation as the final whistle approached.

West Brom are still in that unenviable position of course but there is no doubt at all now that Boro are back on track and after all the stick that the manager took during our troubles earlier this year, he deserves immense credit for putting things right again. And he's probably also put himself right back in the frame for the England job again now.

If we see off Brimingham next week, it will probably be safe to say that any relegation worries are right behind us. Then we can concentrate on lifting some more silverware...

FULL TIME FAN REACTION

"That was fairly easy and we can start climbing the table now. Top ten is not unrealistic now."
Mike Read

Final Whistle: 1653 - Report Online: 1659

WEST BROM FANS WELCOME IN THE NEW HOLGATE MESSAGE BOARD

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