[Thurnscoe_OWL]

plllayyyy offfffs arrrrrewe onnnnnnnnnn

[peiowl]

Depends on your definition of a sitter I  suppose!!  At the end of the  day we haven't created enough chances, and no matter who we have up front it is difficult to score every game when you only get one or two chances to do so.  We need to be creating half a dozen good chances for games and hope our strikers can at least get one of them to go in, at that point the confdence rises and you will create more chances accordingly!!

Yes. I must have been listening to different team then. Team i was listening to had chance after chance in an average game. only goalkeeper to beat and shots would go sky high, into side netting or ball would come flying across for perfect header and some dumbklutz whose name i just forget would forget that you have to take your feet off the ground to head a ball. Team i listened to was called sheffield wednesday. 

[Thurnscoe_OWL]

I know injuries aren't funny but this bandage is hilarious

[madsteve]

Just Got Lucky?

We got lucky in that we caught Boro on a day where they didn't play like promotion contenders.

We were lucky they weren't given a pretty clear cut early penalty?

We were lucky that the referee saw & gave us the penalty.

We were lucky that the penalty went through the keeper's grasp into the net.

We were lucky that we created our one chance a couple of minutes later while Boro still had the red mist in front of their eyes.

We were lucky that Semedo wasn't sent off.

Having said all that, we were the better side and thoroughly deserved to win.

The first half was pretty much a non-event with the ball spending most of its time high in the air being thumped from one back four to the other. Boro were on top for the first 20 minutes but after that it was pretty even with neither side threatening to score. We gradually made a number of nice moves down the right with Palmer & Nuhui being prominent. Nuhui showed particularly neat skills on several occasions.

My view at half time was that the game had 0-0 written all over it unless we got a penalty.

Lo & behold, a penalty it was. The ball bobbled up & Omeruo palmed the ball away above his head. Clearly his hand was in an "unnatural position" and the referee (who had the same angle that I had) saw it & gave the penalty. Nuhui's previous penalties had all been unconvincing but successful. Again, he couldn't fool the keeper with direction but there was enough pace on the ball to force it home.

It was clear the Boro defenders had lost it and Omeruo brought down Maghoma as he was about to burst towards the box to give us a dangerous free kick. McGugan's ball in was perfect as Keane headed against the post but forced in the rebound.

The game was over provided we kept our discipline, Semedo stupidly got involved in an incident while waiting for a free kick to be taken. It appeared that he poked a Boro player in the face. In the end, two yellow cards were issued after a dozen players were involved in a shoving contest.

Neither keeper made a save of note though we were grateful to Palmer who got back to make a superb goal saving tackle on Kike when Westwood was beaten.

The last ten minutes seemed to last forever but it was the scoreboard that got stuck on 81 minutes. At the final whistle there was another melee involving Semedo, Leadbitter and others.

Westwood - 6 - an easy afternoon
Palmer - 8 - good all round game, goal saving tackle
Lees - 7 - calm and assured
Zayatte - 8 - total beast of a defender
Dielna - 6 - shaky first half, brilliant second half
Lee - 5 - disappointing
McGugan - 6 - poor first half, controlled it second half
Semedo - 7 - all over the pitch, bit ill disciplined but effective
Maghoma - 7 - grew as the match went on
Keane - 8 - class & a goal
Nuhui - 8 - quality hold up play, scored penalty
............................................................
Hutchinson - 6 - combative
Maguire - hardly involved
May - hardly involved

Boro showed us a lack of respect by resting a number of their best players - Friend, Leadbitter & Tomlin. It set the tone & they never played like a promotion chasing team. We gradually grew into the match and got stronger & stronger.

This was our best home performance this season by some distance. Boro didn't look good but we didn't let them get into any rhythm.

My question is why have we only really performed four or five times all season? We have shown against Boro twice and at Forest what we are capable of doing yet most matches we have played half heartedly with minimal effort and no apparent plan. I really think that we are only a couple of quality signings away from a promotion chasing squad of players. However, I have to question SG's ability to motivate them to play to their full potential every match and his ability to outwit the opposing manager tactically and make match changing tactical changes & substitutions. I guess we will find out more of our new owners thoughts this week.

It was nice to go into stoppage time in a home match with victory already assured and made for a far more pleasant journey home.

[Thurnscoe_OWL]

One thing MS, it was Nuhiu who headed against the post before Keane's goal. Would have been a good goal from Nuhiu as well, back to goal (sort of) header to far post but just millimetres in it to get it to bounce back to Keane, who was brave to stoop in and head it home

[madsteve]

One thing MS, it was Nuhiu who headed against the post before Keane's goal. Would have been a good goal from Nuhiu as well, back to goal (sort of) header to far post but just millimetres in it to get it to bounce back to Keane, who was brave to stoop in and head it home

Someone said that they said Nuhui headed it on RS but all of us round where I sat thought Keane. The TV coverage is inconclusive as they both go for the header. Certainly the original header looked like it was going in but the spin brought it back out off the post. Maybe they both got a touch on it which would account for the spin on the ball.

Love the way Keane dived in amongst the boots to score. I get more & more impressed with him each match.

[Thurnscoe_OWL]

definitely Nuhiu from where I was on kop doesn't matter really because Keane put it in

Keane is also impressing me. Got that braveness and selfishness (without being over the top) that all good strikers have and with a bit more composure could have had another 3/4 for us by now, I guess that composure comes with experience

[madsteve]

definitely Nuhiu from where I was on kop doesn't matter really because Keane put it in

Keane is also impressing me. Got that braveness and selfishness (without being over the top) that all good strikers have and with a bit more composure could have had another 3/4 for us by now, I guess that composure comes with experience

I really hope we can sign Keane in the summer because while he isn't good enough for Man Utd, he would be brilliant for us. 

He wins a lot in the air, he is composed on the floor, has a touch of class & knows where the goal is. Basically, a Connor Wickham that would be ours.

[Maddix]

If we did sign Keane we'd have to make sure that Manure put an 120% sell on clause in the deal