SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP
Middlesbrough... 1
Charlton Athletic... 0
Saturday 18th January 2014
@ The Riverside Stadium
Middlesbrough
It's been three weeks now since my last venture up in Sheffield and I'm still off work with, what the doctors describe as "sciatica". All I know is that it's still very painful to walk long distances and getting about in general is not the best especially on cold, damp days such as this one.
My first game of the new year takes me to the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough, to see them take on Charlton Athletic in a Sky Bet Championship match. Going into this game Middlesbrough are as their name would suggest middle of the table while Charlton are only two places above the relegation zone. This game will be a first for me for it will be the first time I've seen Middlesbrough in the flesh and not on TV, that's not the case with Charlton though I've seen them many times at Walsall's old Fellows Park ground in the 70's where their fans would come in their thousands and it was quite scary at times. I remember on one occasion when there was so many of them that they were put in the Hillary street end which was usually reserved for home supporters and we had to go and stand on the Railway end terrace which was the away end, I'm hoping that this journey will be a tad too far for most of them to come today.
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| The large ship moored and marooned on the river Tees |
If I'm entirely honest this game was the most boring I've seen on my travels to date, the only saving factor was the goal that insured that I haven't seen a 0-0 draw yet and what a goal it was coming after a quarter of a hour in the first half, Emmanuel Ledesma picked up a loose ball thirty yards out and struck a looping shot that bounced in front of the diving Charlton keeper Thuram-Ulien and went over him and into the net.
In the second half Boro could have doubled their lead when after 61 minutes Carayaol got on the end of a knock down ball but his shot was well saved by the keeper.
Charlton did have the ball in the net on 70 minutes when a deep ball from Danny Green looked as though it was going out for a goal kick until Yann Kermorgant hooked the ball back across the Boro box for Simon Church to barge his way through to knock the ball into the back of the net but the referee ruled it as a foul on the Boro keeper Shay Given.
In the 84th minute Charlton were reduced to ten men when Rhoys Wiggins made a crunching tackle on Boro midfielder Dean Whitehead and the referee produced a straight red card.
Although they were at a disadvantage in numbers Charlton could have levelled the match in injury time when Kermorgant drilled the ball across the Boro penalty area but an unmarked Simon Church couldn't make contact with the ball.
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| Dull, dark, dank and dismal day on the river |
What a dull,dark, damk and dismal day to watch a game of football. As I approached the Riverside Stadium it looked like a large ship that had been moored and marooned on the river tees, you even had the cries of distant seagulls as they flocked around the impressive but forlorn looking vessel.
It is a 35,100 all seated Stadium built in 1995 to re-house Middlesbrough after having to upgrade their former home Ayresome Park after playing there for 92 years, the gates of the old ground have been erected outside the Riverside Stadium in between the statues of two of Middlesbrough's great legends George Hardwick and Wilf Mannion to mark a piece of history.
The inside is fully enclosed and all stands are two-tiered and fully covered but the West stand, which is where I watched the game, is slightly higher than the other three maybe because it has executive boxes running through the middle of it. The West stand also houses the dugouts and the changing rooms with the East stand running the touch line on the other side of the pitch which as the right half of the stand as you look at it designated to away fans. The two stands behind the goals are the North and the South.
Match Details
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