BFTG Middlesborough

[Binfield Royal]

Radio Berks pundits saying it was a great match. Not sure I agree. Boro will feel unlucky not to take all 3 points. They looked comfortable for the whole game and we looked on the back foot.

Feds definitely man of the match which says we were fortunate really but well done anyway Feds.

I can't see where our goals are going to come from at the moment. There is a lot of poor first touches and hoof ball and why do we only contest about 50% of headers following our own goal kick?

Special mentions to

Robson-Kanu for impersonating a professional footballer for the whole game without actually contributing anything to the Reading performance.

Nick Blackman. Thought he was good today and now just needs some goals

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Dreadful first half. No pressing, no intensity, no clue.

2nd half was better, but the aimless punting forward (especially from Hector) was painful. Williams a different player in the 2nd half, not sure why Guthrie got pushed to the attacking CM role to be honest, he looked a bit lost there.... it meant he had to really work to pass it backwards

Shame we couldn't get more set pieces as 'boro looked there for the taking with the few we had.

Nice all round from Feds

And just LOL at the donkey bollox that is HRK

[Pepe the Horseman]

Boro deserved to win, so a good point. We do look better defensively, but only poor finishing and Feds stopped them from scoring 3-4 goals.

Thought Gunts was very good, but Obita was pretty poor again. Good to see Jem back.

Ref was shit.

[Schmeichel the dog]

A real snoozefest first half. Better second. We're looking more solid these days but have Feds to thank for the point due to a series of great saves. Blackman looked more lively than the laboured Pog when he came on and must have felt disappointed not to have started. We are missing Glen though it has to be said. All in all this was a good point against a decent Boro side. Oh, and it was very cold. Brrr.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Also not sure about Blackman playing well, he only touched the ball about three times didn't he?

[Schmeichel the dog]

Never seen a linesman substituted before....

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Also not sure about Blackman playing well, he only touched the ball about three times didn't he?

^ yeah I thought he was pretty ineffectual tbf

[blueroyals]

Never seen a linesman substituted before....

I don't think he was subbed. Looked like he went for a piss.

Feds: 10
Gunter: 4
Pearce: 6
Hector: 4
Obita: 5
Mackie: 5
Norwood: 5
Williams: 7
Hal: 3
Cox: 5
Pog: 4

[Westwood52]

We were so bad 1st half it was comical-2nd half for thirty minutes we were in charge-then they had a late charge which produced a wonder save from Feds.

Feds 10: What can you say !
Gunts 7: Played very well throughout.
Pierce 6: Solid but a few very poor passes-as usual.
Hector 5: Had some horror moments , but just about got away with it.
Obita 6: Seems scared to really put in a tackle.
Norwood 6: OK
Williams 5:
Cox 3 : Did very little
Pog 6: Tried.
Kanu 1: Oh dear
Mackie 6: Not at his best.

Guthrie 6:
Kara 6:
Blackman 6:

Ref: Awful almost biased against us.
Boro: despite Bamford didn't really have a decent striker.

Good point-hard earned-we could have nicked it 2nd half-but should have been down 2 nil at half time.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Never seen a linesman substituted before....

I don't think he was subbed. Looked like he went for a piss.

Feds: 10
Gunter: 4
Pearce: 6
Hector: 4
Obita: 5
Mackie: 5
Norwood: 5
Williams: 7
Hal: 3
Cox: 5
Pog: 4

Were you even at the game?

[PieEater]

Lino deffo wasn't bald before the stoppage, that and the fact somehow Boro weren't 2 up were the highlights of the first half.

Second half we started similarly but the last 30 mins we did look better with a few chances, in particular the goalmouth scramble. Then Boro hit the crossbar and somehow again fail to score and Feds makes another good save, I was relieved at getting a point. On another day we'd of lost that 3-0.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

For me, Pearce was the only other contender for MOTM - he was excellent. HRK can do one was far as i'm concerned.

Under Adkins that would have been a shambles and we would have shipped at least three goals. Under Clarke we rode our luck and eventually almost ground Boro down to our level. At least the 'Ding showed an appetite for the fight in the second half, and the half time team talk must have been something.

There's a long way to go, but we do appear to be heading in the right direction.

[sandman]

Odd game. 'boro had the best chances which is why Feds deservedly got Man on the Match but personally I never felt too worried about them and thought the good chances they had were isolated rather than coming from sustained waves of pressure. We were too respectful to them in the first half but picked up the tempo in the second and the only thing we were missing was a final ball to be able to test the 'boro keeper more.

Special mention to the linesman going off injured because of his strenuous warm up before the game. He was stretching as if he was going to run a marathon and was also running the line with his arm down by his side holding an imaginary flag.

Feds 9 MotM

Gunter 6
Pearce 7
Hector 6
Obita 7

Mackie 6
Williams 7
Norwood 6
Kanu 6

Cox 7
Pog 6

[blueroyals]

Odd game. 'boro had the best chances which is why Feds deservedly got Man on the Match but personally I never felt too worried about them and thought the good chances they had were isolated rather than coming from sustained waves of pressure. We were too respectful to them in the first half but picked up the tempo in the second and the only thing we were missing was a final ball to be able to test the 'boro keeper more.

Special mention to the linesman going off injured because of his strenuous warm up before the game. He was stretching as if he was going to run a marathon and was also running the line with his arm down by his side holding an imaginary flag.

Feds 9 MotM

Gunter 6
Pearce 7
Hector 6
Obita 7

Mackie 6
Williams 7
Norwood 6
Kanu 6

Cox 7
Pog 6

What did Kanu do to justify an above average rating?

[Nameless]

Kanu didn't get an above average rating....

Although I guess everyone uses the numbers differently......

I certainly have never considered a 5 to indicate the player had an acceptable game..

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

Thanks for the point Fed's

[Pepe the Horseman]

That save from Bamford's shot was beautiful x

[RG7Fan]

Never seen a linesman substituted before....

Saw it at Tranmere v Stevenage in November. He then became the fourth official complete with ice pack on his thigh.

First half was a snoore fest, second half much better - thought it could have gone either way to be honest. Happy with a draw against 4th in the table. Feds' save from the Bamford strike was fantastic and the gods shone on us as it went up (and out) from the bar and not down and in - his ball distribution was still far too slow and inaccurate though.

[Royality creeps In]

A real snoozefest first half. Better second. We're looking more solid these days but have Feds to thank for the point due to a series of great saves. Blackman looked more lively than the laboured Pog when he came on and must have felt disappointed not to have started. We are missing Glen though it has to be said. All in all this was a good point against a decent Boro side. Oh, and it was very cold. Brrr.

I take it you did not go to the Huddersfield game last Saturday.
It was like watching Barcelona today compared to the first half performance there.

Another thing Norwood was terrible today possibly his poorest game for us. His free kicks and corners were atrocious.
Pog was ........................................................just Pog
Hector was a little dodgy,
The rest were pretty average apart from Feds who deserved his Man of the Match.

[Pepe the Horseman]

It's weird how people see games so differently. Given that he's been out for so long, I thought Pog played well and put in a real shift.