THE MATCH

TUESDAY 21ST MARCH KO 8:00PM

v

LAST MATCH



We kept our unbeaten run going but had to settle for a draw. We started off quick with Gregory forcing a save but he found the net a short while later turning in a Flint header. We continued on the front foot and had a few chances but couldn't find a second goal. Bolton equalized just before HT Adeboyejo shot deflecting past Dawson. Onto the second half where both teams struggled to create much and the game petered out into a draw

THE MATCH



Next up and a short trip to Oakwell. The Dingles are having a good season and currently lie in 4th place but will be looking to gate-crash the top 2 places starting with us. Devante Cole is there leading scorer with 11 goals, with Phillips & Norwood 9 and 8 goals apiece. They are good form, unbeaten in 10 and will want to end our 23 game unbeaten streak. They are managed by Michael Huff who took over in the summer of 2022 and has a 59% win record.

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 37
DING 24
DRAWS 17

CURRENT FORM

OWLS              -                                                                           

DINGLES         -                                              

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

ROSS JOYCE
Daniel Woodward and Robert Atkin
Fourth Official : Ollie Yates

THE TEAM

Dawson
Palmer Famewo Flint
Hunt Bannan Adeniran Vaulks Johnson
Gregory Smith

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-1 Smith

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

26

BML LEAGUE

Owlskev 25
Stateside 23
Imre 20
Wash 19
SCO 17
Maddix 16
Peiowl 14

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Accrington v Plymouth
Bradford City v Carlisle United
Crawley Town v Doncaster Rovers
Gillingham v Crewe Alexandra
Dundee v Ayr

AHAHA

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE

WEREHAM




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score      
Wrong joker result gives you minus 2
Correct Random Badger gives you 2 points

The random badger is used for any random prediction used once in each matchday sequence. For instance, a scorer at a particular match, the number of red cards in the matches or yellow cards or own goals or owt you want really within reason, I do need to be able to check whether it's correct or not. Please don't put stuff like....."Commentator says...."  
The joker   is played for one match in each sequence and if correct you get double points. So if you've predicted 1-0 and it finishes 2-0, you get 4 pts, but if you've predicted 2-0, that's 8 pts. But if you get it wrong, it's minus 2.
Jokers and badgers are optional. You don't have to play one if you don't want.

The prize for winning the league is one rep point.

Cup games: In the event of a draw, it's half the points if you've predicted a draw when it gets to 90 mins and the full points if it's still a draw after extra time. Half the points will be awarded for correctly predicting the winner of the match if it goes to penalties. Similarly with the badger, if your random prediction is affected by this, it'll be half the points.

Random score generator: I will be using the random score generator again for those who miss predicting, so we shouldn't get some people too far behind that after missing a couple of weeks they lose all interest, because I know it's not easy getting on here every week.
To be fair to everybody, this is going to be like, say if three people in one week miss their predictions, the first one in the table will be given all 0-0, the second one down the line will get 1-0 and the third will get 0-1 and so on, like if there's four missing the 4th will get 1-1, then 5th 2-1, 6th 1-2. and if there are so many missing, might as well pack in.
And if you miss two weeks on the trot, I'll stop until you come back on again. Not doing it for half a season like I did t'other year.  

End of season Play Offs: The one who finishes top of the league will still be champion, but after the season finishes there will be Play Offs between the top 4, with 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd. This will take in stuff like the EFL Play Offs, FA Cup Final, final day of Prima Donna League, European Finals etc. It will be one matchday for the semis and one for the Final. It will be the individual scores for each matchday against the allotted opponent, with some kind of tie breaker for a drawn match.

The prize for winning will be enormous. Another rep point.

European Championship Qualifying:
Thursday 23rd March:
Italy v England
England scorers:

San Marino v Northern Ireland

Saturday 25th March:
Scotland v Cyprus (14:00)
Croatia v Wales (19:45)

Sunday 26th March:
England v Ukraine (17:00)
England scorers:

Northern Ireland v Finland (19:45)

Tuesday 28th March:
Scotland v Spain
Wales v Latvia

Bonus matches:
Saturday:
National League:
Chesterfield v FC Halifax Town

Sunday:
League One:
Forest Green Rovers v Sheffield Wednesday (13:00)

Table after Matchday 31:

1. jjamez = 758 pts
   
2. themaclad = 718 pts
   
3. Baggiebob(BBB) = 701 pts
   
4. theo_luddite = 698 pts
   
5. neonfoxinthebox = 680 pts
   
6. St Charles Owl = 678 pts
   
7. Lord Snooty = 647 pts
   
8. ritchiebaby = 633 pts
   
9. SHEP_HTAFC = 598 pts
   
10. Amelia Chaffinch = 592 pts
    
11. Devongone = 564 pts
    
12. WakeyTerrier = 171 pts

Reports on newsnow that Sheffield Utd and West Brom are interested in signing England international.

Upon reading the article, Crystal Palace maybe willing to sell Sam Johnstone for £5million, he has barely played this season.

Sam thought he might be playing premier league football, instead Palace played a blinder, sign him on for free, sell him a year on for a sizeable fee.

He has harmed his international career by not playing, damaged our promotion hopes by leaving and the grass was not any greener. No1 at Albion playing every week in clear sight of Southgate or getting splinters at Palace, out of sight out of mind.

He made a poor choice but I would take him back.

Anyone else agree?

Darren Sarll very honestly admitted Woking were beaten by the better side. We might have scored 5. It was the unlikeliest of 0-1 games!

Players who played very well for us

This would usually an empty category, but I'd praise Colclough, Dallas, King and Maguire.

Colclough and Dallas should have scored at least two each, but they were far too hot for Woking to handle throughout.
King was far more cerebral than usual, not launching himself into attack until he thought our dodgy defence had settled.
And Maguire lacks pace, but he can defend and pass and his height was a great advantage when Woking tried to switch to the back post. The bravery he used to show when captain of our Juniors heading in from dead balls was in evidence over our penalty. He stuck his head, took an accidental kick from Kellerman and won us the game.

Decent performers

Mandeville did well in helping our advanced midfield three produce a genuine potent goal threat.
Banks, despite looking ponderous at times, largely did his job and slotted home his penalty with assistance from their over-eager keeper.
Palmer looked laboured when sprinting, but is brave, committed and has positional sense.
Jones does his job, once even made it into a scoring position and was ignored, but is essentially insurance against some shaky defending.


Question marks

Quigley did his job, worked, tried and set some problems, but as ever, wherever he is, you just don't expect him to score and he's a striker.
Grimes, the National League Paper awarded him 7, for me 5 was stretch. He's brave and committed AND clearly a leader, but his reading of the game is poor. In the opening minutes he didn't seem to trust Maguire. First he covered across when Maguire was in position to do the job and when Grimes lost out we were in trouble, and minutes later he appeared to be going to do the same again, Maguire backed off to try and cover, then Grimes himself retreated too, allowing a dangerous cross to be swung in mid height to which our keeper's ejector-seat dive for cover suggested a lone-wolf Lee-Harvey Oswald might be firing from the crowd.
Which leads me to FITZSIMMONS - the window closes in 4 days - going into a play-off final with him between the sticks would be a white flag. Whether he is shaky because he can't read Grimes' random defensive efforts, or whether he is always that flaky I don't know. He does everything in a rush and exudes panic. He grabs at the ball as though it's a chicken's neck in needing of wringing. He looks a wreck. And he came up with a clean sheet ........ there must be a divine presence. Between us, Notts County, Wrexham, Chesterfield and Woking we haven't a reliable keeper. Whatever you do, don't monitor your heart rate when the ball is near our box.

My opinion was that we were very good, especially when going forward. Cookie's formation can work well with these players, especially if McCallum comes in at centre forward. I'd have to exchange Mandeville for Dobra despite the idiot boy rolling around on the floor again pretending to be hurt and having to be told by the ref' to get up, upon which he jumped up and RAN away - roll away the effing stone.

Unfortunately our defence entirely lacks pace, and is not astute enough to cover it in front of a flapping keeper.

But we looked a team and were way better than the team in third place in our league.

National League club Southend United have been put up for sale.

The search for new owners for the Essex side comes two weeks after the club had a winding-up petition against them dismissed after the club paid £1.4m owed to HM Revenue & Customs.

Financial issues Southend, which has been owned by chairman Ron Martin for 25 years, has prompted fans to look at establishing a phoenix club.

"I feel the time is right," said Martin of his decision to search for a buyer.

Martin said the dissatisfaction of the club's supporters did not prompt the move, adding that the "first thought emerged" during the Covid pandemic when football was brought to a halt and financial strains across the game were exacerbated.

A statement from the club said the "introduction of a new custodian or investment partners would not be fast-tracked".

American-based agency General Sports Worldwide LLC had been appointed as advisors to the club.

Martin still maintains the solution to the current financial problems is to relocate from their Roots Hall home, redevelop the site for housing and move to a new stadium at Fossetts Farm.

While those works are yet to begin, Martin said the £2m development of a new training facility was nearing completion and would be available for next season.

"Completion of the club's new training ground represents the first phase of infrastructure, enabling the stadium and residential phases to commence," he said in a statement.

"Tenders for those works, both stadium and residential, have now been received with works programmed to commence later this year."

News of plans to try to sell the club was broken at a press conference with Martin saying players had not been told in advance.

"I don't think they will be affected by it," he said.

"I think players as a whole look to their manager, I don't think they look to the chairman. This increases the club's stability rather than instability, so they should be pleased."

He added that no potential new investors had been spoken to in advance of the announcement.

'Not many saw this coming'
Analysis - BBC Essex sports editor Glenn Speller

Wow! I don't think many Southend United supporters saw this coming.

Having just escaped yet another winding-up petition from HMRC earlier this month, fans were gearing-up for another protest march ahead of tomorrow's National League match at home to Aldershot.

Ron Martin has been a controversial character during his 25 year tenure at the club. He oversaw a rise up to the Championship which has since been followed by a catastrophic drop into the National League.

Players have gone unpaid over the years while office staff have suffered a lack of wages over Christmas and New Year and a season ticket sometimes would not have gone amiss at the High Court with enough winding-up petitions to paper a reasonably sized front room.

But there has always been the promised land of a new stadium in the offing. That is now more important than ever as Roots Hall rots away, offering nothing in the way of comfort on matchdays and standing as a symbol of the club's descent.

While Ron Martin continues with the Fossetts Farm Stadium development, a new owner will be charged with restoring the club's EFL status. Most Blues fans will hope there might be another couple of Hollywood actors who might be interested…

This year's Championship begins on Saturday 18 March and ends on Sunday 26 March, in Sandviken, Sweden in the Göransson Arena - a 10,000-seater facility which opened in 2009. The round robin games will determine the top six ranked teams. The teams ranked first and second will proceed directly to the Semi-finals. For teams ranked third to sixth, qualification games will take place on Saturday 25 March at 10:00 (3v6 and 4v5). The Semi-finals will also take place on 25 March at 16:00, with the Medal games being played on Sunday 26 March.

The competing teams are Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, New Zealand, Scotland, Switzerland, Sweden, Türkiye and United States

Scotland are represented by their European Bronze Medallists - Rebecca Morrison (Skip),  Gina Aitken (Vice-Skip), Sophie Sinclair (2nd), Sophie Jackson (Lead) with Jennifer Dodds (Alternate). For me they might not quite get there this time, but, as they have already proved, they are good enough. The main dangers are definitely Japan, Sweden, Switzerland and United States, leaving the Scots to fight with Canada and Denmark for the remaining 2 places. Let's hope there is no Covid to hinder us this year!

Scotland's first game is on Saturday against Germany at 7pm, followed on Sunday by Denmark at 9am and Japan at 7pm.

Millwall v Huddersfield Town
The Sky Bet Championship
Saturday March 18th - 15:00 ko
at The Dirty Den

Quote:Captain Blackadder:
This is a crisis. A large crisis. In fact, if you got a moment, it's a twelve-storey crisis with a magnificent entrance hall, carpeting throughout, 24-hour portage, and an enormous sign on the roof, saying 'This Is a Large Crisis'. A large crisis requires a large plan. Get me two pencils and a pair of underpants.

Quote:Ahead of our Sky Bet Championship fixture against Millwall on Saturday 18 March, Manager Colin Wanker updated the press before our trip to the capital.

Discussing the point taken against Norwich City, our latest team news, and our upcoming international break taking place after this weekend, our Manager said:

“I think it’s a feeling of what might have been in honest – we could have lost it in the first half and then could have won it in the second half.

“We know we need three points, but we take what we can and move on, it’s just a matter of confidence.

“We hadn’t had much luck, but you have to make your own as well and we did that in the second half last night.

“I’m disappointed we didn’t get a second goal because we had the better chances in the second half.

“There’s nothing concerning in terms of injury after last night, hopefully during the international break we’ll sort one or two of the lads who’ve been missing.

“The lads will have some time off during the international break, come back and have a couple of days focussing on ourselves physically and then prepare for the next game.”

Going on to speak about our next Sky Bet Championship fixture against Millwall, Colin said:

“Millwall is going to be a challenge, it’ll be different to the game against Norwich but still challenging. They will play with a lot of strength and we have to be prepared mentally and physically to match that or it will be extremely difficult.

“They are brilliant when it comes to long throws and set pieces, which we have been a lot more positive about lately, so we need to continue with that.

“The fans will be there on Saturday, even with the train strikes and the obstacles – they will be there. The fans who turned up against West Brom were amazing and we need that again.”

Quote:Usually, the quickest and easiest way to reach The Den is by train via South Bermondsey station, but strike action will mean no services will run to the station on the day.

Match-goers are strongly advised to check their journeys before leaving. Nearby stations include Surrey Quays (which can be reached on London Overground) and London Bridge, from which the Jubilee Line will be available to travel to Bermondsey; a 20-minute walk to The Den. The strike action may mean that some of these stations are out of action, so please check your journey as soon as possible.

There are also numerous bus routes stopping in close proximity to The Den, including the 21, 53 and 172, which will get you to Old Kent Road, the P12 to Ilderton Road, the 1 and 381 to Rotherhithe New Road and the 47, 188 and 225 to Surrey Quays.

The old Den

They joined the Football League in 1920/21 with the newly formed regional Third Division and one of their biggest results in those early years was beating the thrice champions, Huddersfield Town, 3-1 in the 1926/27 FA Cup. And in 1937 they reached the FA Cup semi finals, losing 2-1 to Sunderland at Huddersfield Town's Leeds Road Stadium. Town legend Dave Mangnall leading the line in that famous cup run, the first 3rd division team to reach the semis. Here's some old footage of the cup run. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any footage anywhere on t' internet of the game at Leeds Road.

They were on the brink of the First Division, when the Second World War broke out. The Den took a pounding from the Luftwaffe and when the war was over, so was Millwall's chance of reaching for the sky. By the end of the 1950s they had plummeted down the league and when the third divisions went national, they were in the 4th division. They won promotion in 1964/65 though and have never been back to the 4th tier.

A steady climb upwards led to the eventual promotion to the top flight of English football in 1988/89 under the management of John Docherty and with the goals of Tony Cascarino and Teddy Sheringham. They stayed there for a couple of seasons, finishing 10th in the first one, before finishing bottom in the second.

In 1993 they moved ground, across New Cross to the New Den. After initial success at the new all seater stadium, a slump saw them relegated in 1996, but as a third division club, they reached Wembley for the first time, losing the 1999 Auto Windscreens Trophy Final 1-0 to Wigan, a team who would become their nemesis by beating them again in the following season's Play Offs. They went up as champions in the season after this though, with a club record 93 points.

In 2004 they reached the FA Cup Final, losing to Man Utd 3-0, but as United had already qualified for Europe, this meant that Millwall would play in the following season's UEFA Cup. They lost in the first round to Ferencváros.

Relegated again in 2006, they won promotion back again in 2009/10, via the Play Offs, beating Swindon in the final at Wembley. They did, of course, beat us 2-0 on aggregate on their way there.

In 2013, Millwall once again reached the FA Cup semi finals, losing again to their old nemesis Wigan by two goals to nil.



Head to Head



Town lead the head to head with 24 wins to Millwall's 21, with 7 draws.

The programme image shown above was from our first league season together, 56 years ago to the day of this week's match. Town won it 3-1 with two goals from Brian Clark and one from the recently deceased Colin Dobson. That completed a double over the Lions, having won 2-0 at Leeds Road in October 1966. Dobson with a penalty and one from Tony Leighton.

Before that, we'd been drawn to play each other three times in the FA Cup in the 1920s. Millwall were in Division 3 (South) for all those games, while Town were the best team in the country. We beat them in the quarter finals in 1922, on the way to winning the Cup. Two from Clem Stephenson and one from Ernie Islip were the goals scorers for us in a 3-0 win at Leeds Road.

The following season, we drew them away in the 2nd round (modern day 4th round) and played out a goal less draw at the Den before beating them 3-0 again in the replay. Two goals this time from Charlie Wilson and one from George Richardson.

Four years later, as the Thrice Champions, we were giant killed by Millwall at the Den in front of 35,962 spectators. They beat us 3-1 for what must've been the biggest shock of the year.

We've had one FA Cup meeting since then, which they won 4-0 at Leeds Road in 1992.

They beat us a few years later in the League One Play Offs, when they won 2-0 on aggregate at the semi final stage. Danny Schofield played against us as two goals from Steve Morison and Paul Robinson saw our brave lads whimper out, disappointingly.

Since then, we've had 13 meetings in the Championship, with us winning 8 of them and losing 4, with one draw. The most recent one, in October, was won with a spectacular shot (cross?) from Yuta Nakayama in the 9th minute, the only goal of the game.

George Honeymonster (left)

Premier League

Blue Baggie  25pts 2CS 7CR 10GB 3BB 0SB
Zinman        22pts 3CS 6CR 10GB -3BB 1SB
Minizin        20pts 3CS 5CR 10GB -3BB 1SB
Derby          13pts 2CS 5CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
SCO            13pts 1CS 6CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Sanjay          10pts 1CS 5CR -3GB 3BB 0SB
Stairs          10pts 1CS 5CR 0GB -3BB 1SB
Snooty          5pts 1CS 4CR -3GB -3BB 1SB

Week 25 saw the highest points total of the season and just 2 weeks later we see the 2nd highest - are we beginning to work this prediction lark out? 4 correct gamball scores - well, it's 4 if you include the player who chose not to play it - and a high proportion of correct results turned into maximums saw a return to the Premiership's high scoring ways. only 1 match failed to deliver a single correct prediction and that turned out to be expensive as 2 players picked that game, Sheff Utd v Luton, as their bonus.

Not surprisingly, it's the 3 players with the correct gamball score that sit at the top of the table. Blue is in first place with his best score of the season and a week's high of 7 correct results and he is joined in the 20's with the usual suspects, Zinman and Minizin, both of whom had 3 correct scores but missed out on their bonuses.

Derby will lose a bit of ground in the chase for the title though his 13 points would normally represent a decent score. He's tied for third place with SCO who would have scored higher if only he'd turned more of his 6 correct results into correct scores. Sanjay and Stairs are 3 points back, with Stairs one correct score being the gamball game. If only he'd played it!

Alone at the foot of the table is Snooty. Given the time he took to compile his preview of the WBA - Huddersfield match (go back and read it on the Sportsbabble Hudds page if you haven't already done so - well worth it but prepare for a long read!), I can only assume that he was forced to rush his predictions!


Minizin 280
Zinman 262
Derby 254
Stairs 235
Blue 224
Sanjay 200
SCO 196
Snooty 195

A few changes at both ends of the table as we approach the final few weeks of the season. Minizin remains top with a healthy lead but Zinman and Derby once again swop places beneath him, Zinman opening up an 8 point gap in 2nd place. Stairs challenge to the top 3 appears to be fading but the battle to avoid relegation gets very interesting with just 5 points separating the bottom 3. Snooty's poor week sees him drop to the foot of the table but it's still all to play for!

Zin


Championship

Dingle 16pts 0CS 6CR 5GB 3BB 0SB
Twerton 16pts 1CS 2CR 10GB 3BB 1SB
AAA 12pts 2CS 3CR NPGB -3BB 1SB
BBB 12pts 2CS 3CR -3GB 3BB 0SB
Themaclad 11pts 2CS 2CR -3GB 6BB 0SB
Lady Jane 5pts 1CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
BaggieOne 5pts 1CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Amelia -1pts 0CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 1SB

The Gamball certainly made its presence felt this week with only two players getting positive scores on it and surprise, surprise, they ended up as the top 2 this week.  Dingle and Twerton both managed 16 points this week and aside from the Gamball points they got there in very different ways!! Dingle scored on 6 of the 10 games including CRs on both the Gamball and the Bonus but was unable to post any Correct Scores.  Twerton on the other hand only scored on 3 games, a max on the Gamball, a CR on the Bonus and one other CR!!  Zinman and I have preached about the effect of taking care on the balls for weeks and these two prove that yet again.

The alphabet twins are locked together in third place with 12 points, AAA didn't play the Gamball, saved him 3 points, and BBB got a CR on the Bonus.  Just behind them is Themaclad with 11 points, he managed a max on the Bonus and like both of them he has 2 CSs to boost the tally.

Bit of a drop to 6th place where we see promotion challengers Lady Jane and BaggieOne tied with 5 points.  They got there in identical ways, basically a low score because they missed out on both balls!!  Amelia is rock bottom again with -1 point, she was one of only two players to fail to get a Correct Score and ironically the other players who didn't get one finished top this week 17 points ahead!!

286 Dingle
257 Lady Jane
250 BaggieOne
243 AAA
239 BBB
184 Themaclad
169 Twerton
145 Amelia

No positional changes again but its definitely getting tighter towards the top end.  There are now 5 players fighting it out for the promotion spots, Dingle has once again pulled away at the top and now leads by 29 points, can he carry that to the end now?  LJ and B1s recent poor form has seen them lose ground  to the point where AAA is only 7 points behind and BBB is only 4 points behind him!!  Second down to fifth is now covered by just 18 points, essentially the difference between a very good and a very poor week, so everyone of them needs to start getting some consistency. 

No changes at the bottom and with a decent spread between each of Themaclad, Twerton and Amelia it's not looking like any of these position will change anytime soon.

Cheers
SCO

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football...d948&ei=16

This is a curious update after the recent Scot Cup quarter-final results. Some poss Euro footie beneficiaries unfold after the last round of results although very little will change re any kinda positive progress apart from some clubs making a few quid in the process.
Re Hibs interest (although there is still a lotta footie to be played before conclusion!), my stance still remains the same that I regard this involvement as nothing more than a distraction that can impact on progress into another Scot footie season. The cash incentive still makes Euro participation of great interest to the club and that is understandable.

GENTRY DAY



For those not in the know the annual rememberance day for those who have departed this life who were cursed with supporting North End. Suspect the Kirkby Stephen will be drunk dry on Saturday #prayforKirkbyStephen

FORM GUIDE

BORO 12 PNE 14

LAST TIME OUT



MANAGER

Michael Carrick (born 28 July 1981) is an English professional football coach and former player who is currently the head coach of Championship club Middlesbrough. He is one of the most decorated English footballers of all time and is best known for his 12-year playing career with Manchester United, whom he also captained.[3] Carrick was a central midfielder, but he was used as an emergency centre-back under Alex Ferguson, David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and José Mourinho. His playing style was grounded in his passing ability.[4][5]

Carrick began his career at West Ham United, joining the youth team in 1997 and winning the FA Youth Cup two years later. He was sent on loan twice during his debut season, to Swindon Town and Birmingham City, before securing a place in the first team by the 2000–01 season. He experienced relegation in the 2002–03 season and was voted into the PFA First Division Team of the Year in the following campaign. He made more than 150 appearances for the Hammers, and in 2004, he moved to rival London club Tottenham Hotspur for a fee believed to be £3.5 million. He played an influential role at the club for two seasons before moving to Manchester United in 2006 for £14 million.

From his debut onwards, Carrick was a regular in the Manchester United first team, making more than 50 appearances in his first season with them. He established himself as a key member of the team that won the Premier League in 2006–07, their first title success in four years. The following season he was part of the side that won the 2008 Champions League final, playing the full 120 minutes as they enjoyed a 6–5 penalty shootout win, with Carrick converting his spot kick, to help achieve the European Double. As of 2023, he is the only English player alongside former teammate Wayne Rooney to win the Premier League title, FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, League Cup, FA Community Shield, UEFA Europa League and FIFA Club World Cup.[6][7] In winning the 2016 FA Cup, Carrick completed his collection of every domestic honour in the English game.[8]

Carrick has represented England at under-18, under-21, B and senior levels. He made his England debut in 2001 and went on to gain 34 caps without scoring a goal. Carrick was often overlooked during his England career, with many of his contemporaries being preferred in his position. This was the case until the 2012–13 season, when Carrick established himself as a regular. He was a member of the England squad for two major tournaments, the 2006 and 2010 World Cups.

https://www.mfc.co.uk/

https://www.oneboro.co.uk/forum/
https://fmttmboro.com/index.php

THE JOY OF EX



Top lad



The king of winning cheap free kicks

LIFE IN MIDDLESBROUGH

https://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2023-...wheelchair

Only one song to link to the above story



In The Dressing Room

After returning to the bench from injury for the midweek victory over Rotherham United, defender Andrew Hughes will be available once again this weekend.

Liam Lindsay, who has been nursing a slight injury in recent weeks, is back on the grass but is unlikely to be in contention for Saturday’s game.

Elsewhere, midfielder Ali McCann is making good progress and could be back before initially expected.

A Look At Our Hosts

In the reverse fixture between PNE and Middlesbrough earlier in the season, the Teessiders arrived at Deepdale dangerously close to the drop zone and under brand new management in Michael Carrick.

It has been some turnaround since that point, though, with Boro having picked up 47 points in their 20 games following their defeat in PR1.

That’s a run which has seen them surge from the depths of the division right up to the top, and they are now well within a chance of pipping Sheffield United to second spot – currently sat just three points behind the Blades.

Going Head To Head


Games played: 106
PNE wins: 34
Draws: 26
Middlesbrough wins: 46
Last meeting: PNE 2-1 Middlesbrough, 29th October 2022

One To Watch


You’ll do well to find a striker in better form than Chuba Akpom right now, with the Boro attacker having netted 24 goals in just 32 games so far this season.

He’s been in red-hot form all campaign and he’s showing no signs of slowing down either, with ten goals in his last nine games.

Akpom – who came through the Arsenal Academy – has been playing just off of main striker Cameron Archer in recent weeks, a man PNE know well from his exploits on loan at Deepdale last term.

Match Officials

Matt Donohue will referee his second PNE game of the season this weekend.

His previous time taking charge of a North End fixture was a home defeat to Stoke City in October 2022, but he was on fourth official duties during the week as Ryan Lowe’s side beat Rotherham United.

So far this season, Donohue has taken charge of 28 matches, brandishing 98 yellow cards and two reds.

MACS VIEW

Free hit this one mind you already beaten them this season, as usual with Gentry Day will be messy, next up some side from the Seaside