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THE AWAY END - ST JAMES' PARK 4-2-08
John Powls
The Build Up To The Game
The Boro websites this week have been wall to wall with transfer stuff. I dealt with that in my transfer window special column so there is no need to do so here. Suffice to say, we were all glued to the net, wondering if the visa would come through and we'd see anything of Alves.
Commentary switched to the opening hours of the British Embassy and the length and management of the visa queue. There was a question of whether Alves could have someone stand in the queue on his behalf. If so, doubtless AZ would have claimed they had the queuer on a contract too! Then, was there a conspiracy when the Embassy computer booking system went down...
I am grateful to an old mate, Clive Hurren, for posting the following gem: "It's just a shame we couldn't have got Daniel Alves too, then we would really have a game of two Alves!"
More generally, the web inches were devoted to Capello's first Eng-er-lund squad and the Under-21's. It was good to see that Stewie had retained his place in the thirty but he lost out in the cut.
As usual, we were well represented in the U-21's. It was interesting to see that Capello said that Wheats' displays of late had brought him very close to the full squad.
It was comforting to see that Lawro had had a return to form and backed us to lose.
The Wigan result was very welcome and gave Boro a bit - but only a bit - of breathing space. It was a pivotal six pointer as the rest of the Bottom Half League either played each other or teams at the top. This made the game nerve jangling and during some of the second half, it got to the surprisingly thin crowd and the team.
But we saw it out for a very important win and there have been times this season when we wouldn't have done. Credit due to all involved.
My mate Ian, Phil and I discussed where that left us and our opposition for this game. The Skunks were in disarray in their off-pitch hierarchy; Shearer turned them down and the appointment of Wise beggared belief. Keegan didn't have a clue what was going on and this time it wasn't his fault!
You couldn't blame Wise. One moment he was on some pittance trying to get Leeds up through the play-offs after a fifteen points deduction, wondering what to do now that Poyet had gone and how to get out before he was rumbled, the next he was in a suit and a corporate box with a salary of £1.5m as "Executive Director (Football)". He'd even got a job with (brackets)! We'd all have taken some of that.
On the field, the change of manager hadn't brought about a change of fortune (or even the much vaunted change of style), though two away games in three days against The Gunners was a tough baptism. But no points, no goals and no entertainment in his first three games was hardly the stuff of legend, come again.
Maybe keeping the same coaching staff, including Round, hasn't helped. Doing that didn't help us either.
Their squad was ill-assorted and out of sorts. Even Woody wasn't persuaded to join his old mates there, preferring the upheaval of a move to London.
Some of their injured, including Veruka, may return but Keegan hadn't brought in anyone new in the window, his only business being to loan Rozenhal out for the rest of the season. Presumably he has written this season off and plans a big turnover in the summer.
Once the euphoria had subsided, their fans had taken on the veneer of tolerance for the returning "Messiah" but, especially in a derby, you could see how easy it would be to scrape it off and expose the basic viciousness that underlay it.
By the way, if anyone knows which prat it is in their crowd who spends the entire game whistling minah bird impressions of fireworks, can you do us all a favour and muzzle his beak!
We had picked up a few new injuries against Wigan although some were returning from illness. Our results in derbies recently - and indeed the results in most recent NE derbies of late - indicated a draw. But would we revert to a type that Gate has struggled to shake off - being the "It's a Knockout" Joker for any team on a run of defeats and strikers who haven't scored?
So, as usual, we wondered who would be fit to get off the coach and which Boro would they be?
The Sundays brought a fresh crop of Alves rumours - including that he had two passports to disguise his real age. He has, allegedly, just turned twenty-seven.
I don't know about two passports - it's less than his number of contracts - but when my lad and I saw Alves on Sky close ups when he was in the stand at the Wigan game, we believed that he had the same tenuous grip on his real age as your average Hollywood actress! Maybe he's had a hard life! It also seems he can't read and write and is hard of understanding, which is why paperwork baffles him. That was according to his own lawyer.
I also read that a former agent of his has jumped on the compo bandwagon and added his complaint to AZs in the queue at FIFA. I couldn't wait until we'd got beyond this stuff and he was banging them in for us.
On the positive side, the Sunday Times carried a very thoughtful article about the tough life and times of Julio Arca. There were stories from Mido about not wanting a repeat of the racist chanting that marred the game at The Riverside but since he wasn't even in the sixteen he'd have struggled to hear it.
We were the first of the Sky Sunday double-header. Andy Gray added to Arsene Wenger's recent comments when he said: "Gareth Southgate is an astute young manager who has Boro heading in the right direction". Unfortunately, the rest of the Sky team hadn't listened and said nothing about Boro in the run up to the game and, in commentary, they'd clearly got this down as the start of the Keegan revival.
The Away End at a cold and blustery Sid James Park was bouncing with 3,000 Boro fans who, despite the uneven contest in numbers and distance from the pitch, were giving it the big one and out-shouted the Geordies throughout the game.
The Game
Well, overall we certainly did more than enough to be worth the draw and with a bit more luck and some clinical finishing (roll on Alves!) we'd have won. The defence were immense again, even if Eddie did one Scissorhands, and the Berlin Wall staked his claim to, maybe, Muller or Seeler status to Wheat's Beckenbauer. His looping, headed equaliser reminded you of theirs in Mexico 1970.
A special word for Jeremie Aliadiere too. He ran himself daft, covering the lone striker role excellently. He linked the play well in the second half when he had more support. Then, he showed he's found his shooting boots by lashing home in the last minute after Stewie's clever free kick rebounded from the post, only to be confounded by the lino's marginal offside flag.
If we were unlucky to have one chalked off at the end then (chokes on his words!) so were The Barcodes at the start. Schwarz fumbled a corner and dropped the ball at Owen's feet. He poked home from three yards.
Everyone thought the goal was given but, not for the last time in the afternoon, Mr. Dean made a gesture that was difficult to interpret. When decoded, it meant "no goal", disallowed for a "foul" by Owen on Schwarz. Despite the forty replays by Sky, no-one but Mr. Dean saw it. A real let off.
We had set out 4-5-1. Maybe that was forced on us by having only one striker fit to play. I don't count Simba. The tactic from Gate was clear and understandable - to do a Bolton on them, stifle and frustrate them and get the crowd on their backs. And we kept that up pretty successfully for the whole first half.
They didn't have another chance worthy of the name - but then neither did we. It took us the best part of thirty minutes to start to venture forwards and to begin to show our neat midfield play and thirty-seven minutes before we threatened their goal with a couple of decent crosses.
We achieved what we wanted with their crowd, though. You could hear the groans start at about twenty-five minutes - along with the stupid minah bird impersonator - and you could feel their anxiety building.
There were only three other issues of concern in the first half. They had a shout for a penalty when the ball hit Pogo on the hand but it was rightly waved away; Wheats was allowed himself to be drawn into fouls by Smith and got himself booked but survived until the break and some calming advice from Gate and Coops; and we had shut them out effectively but where were we going to get a goal from to go ahead or to equalise if they happened to score?
As the second half started it was clear that Gate had taken the shackles off Boro and we started to press forward. Almost immediately we started to get at their defence and threatened from corners and free-kicks with Stewie's usual immaculate service.
Stewie tested Given who could only parry to Gary O'Neil but he shot straight at the goalie instead of squaring to Aliadiere. Catts drew a free kick in the D only for a Huth Howitzer to go high, wide but not that handsome. Then Aliadiere was slipped through but couldn't beat Given and was wrongly ruled offside, as the replays showed.
But with all our pressure the game had opened up. On the hour they were wrongly awarded a free kick for a "foul" by Luke Young. As the ball swung in, Owen evaded our zonal marking and got across the front post and Luke Young. He played his "It's A Knockout" joker and headed home from six yards. It was his first goal in ten games.
Earlier this season, Boro would have crumbled but we're made of sterner, more confident stuff now. We got on the front foot again and kept making and squandering chances with Gary O'Neil missing perhaps the best of them.
Our rhythm and pace were good with Rocky, Arca, O'Neil and Stewie driving the midfield and our defence ensuring that the back door was kept locked. Gate brought on Simba for Rocky - what, exactly, was the point of that? But at least we didn't break our pattern too much and we continued to press.
Keegan tried his subs, bringing on Milner and Veruka but they couldn't shake our defence. The Boro Beckenbauer was staying up more and more. He intercepted a wayward Stewie shot, swivelled and struck one left footed that Given could only parry and Simba couldn't do anything with the rebound.
As full time approached, though the play was end to end, it was Boro in the ascendancy. We knew it, they knew it, their crowd knew it and lapsed into silence as The Away End cranked up the volume again and the shots of Keegan on the bench showed that he knew it too.
The only question was would we run out of time and chances before we notched? Gate brought on Johnno and we had width as well as penetration through the middle. Our improved fitness showed too as, even on cavalry charges in the last few minutes, we were getting four and five men into their box and then getting back to cover.
It was on eighty-seven that Huth towered in the area and got his head to an Arca cross. It seemed to take an age to loop up and beyond a flat footed Given and into the corner. Keegan later whinged about an offside but the goal stood.
Cue delirium in The Away End and heads in hands all around Sid James' Park. It wasn't long before The Away End "could see them sneaking out".
There were four minutes of time added on and both sides were still going for it. Even when they did slip our midfield, no-one in our back four was going to give way. Meanwhile, they opened up every time as our clever passing moved us on to the breakaway attack again.
For that brief wonderful moment we thought we'd won it as Aliadiere lashed home but we had to settle for a well earned point. The Away End treated "The Messiah" to another chorus or two of "Cheer Up Kevin Keegan", just to round his afternoon off!
Later.
On MotD the systematic national media brown-nosing of Keegan and The Barcodes continued. Why don't they get over themselves?
At least they briefly featured Huth and Wheats and Chris Coleman admitted we deserved to have won. Gate and Huth were interviewed and it was good to see them acknowledge what we had done but also that neither of them was satisfied to have just got a draw.
The rest of the results in the BHL were a mixed bag for us this weekend. We could have done without the wins for Bolton and particularly for Fulham, who we have our next six-pointer against this coming weekend. We've known for some time what a hole we dug for ourselves with our form in the first half of the season and it promises to take us most of the second half to get out of it. It will be tight in the BHL right to the end.
We couldn't wait until next week for the Alves debut - FIFA permitting. Although it was probably for the best in that he hadn't played for a while and may have risked injury playing in this game, Ian, Phil and I wondered if he'd be any better off with a week in the hands of the "fitness" staff at Hurworth!
He must be licking his lips at the thought of the service he will get and the chances we will create.
We also saw that The Count says that they plan to sort out Stewie's contract in a way "which will please the fans" in the next few weeks. We hope he's as good as his word and that the fans he means aren't the Chicken Runners but the vast majority who know what Stewie is worth to the team and the club and what he represents.
Aside from the enjoyment of reading about our draw again in the Monday's, there were two less savoury pieces. Woody had a go, by implication, at Gate and Boro. This is not unexpected but undignified and hopefully that's the last of it.
Also not unexpected was the news that Mido's pubic bone was giving him gyp again - was that why we were trying to sign Fred or Love as well as Alves?
"Yerjokin'aren'ya" Quote of the Week
"We are both single-minded and have our ideas about how things should be done. That is not the best mix - you need to be different. So for plenty of reasons, I had to say no."
Alan Shearer turning down the chance to work with Keegan. Now there's a man who knows a train wreck when he sees one - unlike Keegan and Wise.
The Away End will be back after the Sheffield United Cup Tie on 17 February
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John Powls is a published poet with five books of his work in print. He is a regular performer of his work at major literary festivals and exhibitions in the UK and America, often working with musicians, painters with photographer Carol Ballenger.
Check out Red Shoes 250 for more of John Powls, right here.
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