Jones; Hoyte, Wheater, Grounds, Pogatetz; Robson, O’Neil, Franks, Arca; Killen, McDonald

• Brad Jones back in goal – they say it’s to punish Danny Coyne for a dodgy performance at Derby…doesn’t it just really punish all of us?
• No Mick – he took ill prior to the match and naffed off home – Jonathan Grounds replaces him in the heart of defence
• Boro experimenting w/ a 4-3-3 formation: Franks pushes forward to create the trident attack w/ Killen/Mac…is it the type of improvisation inferred by Gordo midweek?
• Ali Brownlee lyricizes that he can ‘barely see the Eston Hills but for the mist’…why is he always pilloried by a lot of the locals?
• Reading bring an organized game – the hallmark of their recent surge…the clear form team in the league and fashionable dark horse playoff pick…
• 24^th permutation of the back line. Twenty fourth! And the 37 players used in the league equal the mark set by the promotion winning squad of 1997-98…
• Pogi – bravely available to play, however short-sighted his appointment to the first choice LB role may be, is getting forward…in the 19^th minute he advances deep enough to loft a beautiful cross into the Reading box – Killen rises and gets good contact but his effort sails wide
• Gary Gill comments on the state of David Wheater: experiencing pain ‘in the nethers’, while giggling like a school child
• The derision aimed at Jonesey was somewhat less than anticipated – on 30 minutes he cancels out a strong header from Shane Long…Jobi McAnuff supplied the ball…strong left hand from Brad
• The goalkeeper heroics are about the peak of the first half highlights…mundane, insipid, languid, dire…they’re all appropriate
• HT Boro 0-0 Reading 
• Reading had the best chance courtesy of Shane Long – GG reckons we’d have a few ourselves if not for the absence of good final balls…he elucidates: half chances for us, no more – more input needed from Mac and Franks too
• 2^nd starts on a high – after a half time rollicking? – 77 seconds is all that’s needed for Boro to take command of the match: Justin Hoyte delivers from the right – a real peach of a cross – and Chris Killen climbs majestically to beat Reading keeper Adam Federici -   Boro 1-0 Reading – 47 minutes 
• It’s the start of a dominating spell for the hosts – immediately after the goal Boro win it back and GON romps forward to offer a strong shot – tangible improvements so far
• Referee Andy Hall is a taskmaster: 25 yellow cards and two reds dished out…in his last 5 matches…seems the virtual rent-a-mob that has him in their sights is entirely justified – he’s kept it in his trousers so far – Julio Arca is the only name in his book so far
• GG is royalty after all: the anointed King of Linthorpe Road says his broadcast partner
• The pace of the match has picked up nicely, and it’s chiefly down to one man: Jimmy Kebe - the Mali international has caused all sorts of bother for Pogi down the right – this time his cross isn’t dealt w/ properly and it slaps off of David Wheater and into the Boro – no immediate anger at Brad Jones – Boro 1-1 Reading – 63 mins
• Attendance: 17082 (375 away fans)
• The largely anonymous Scott McDonald taken off for former Royal Leroy Lita – he’s looking to make it 2 in 2 against his old club this season
• Chris Killen presses Adam Federici again – great movement from the Kiwi as he rolled his marker and belted a shot that thumped off the keeper’s chest
• Cameo appearance for Marvin Emnes – he joins the action to replace Jonathan Franks – Gordo is hoping for a turbo boost of our own that can rival the pace of Kebe
• Late on it’s Jonesey standing tall – a dangerous free kick from Sigurdsson is punched straight into the air inside the Boro area – the former understudy keeper does well to collect in the dying moments of regular time
• GG MOM – Brad Jones
• The 5 minutes added come to mostly nothing – Reading had a decent go to force another Jonesey save – for Boro there was a promising corner that was cleared quite easily – no real impact from the subs – LL shot his bolt when he scored down there – and Marvin might need a bit more time to assimilate to the English game for he lost possession far too easily…yet again
• FT Boro 1-1 Reading

We’re drawing ourselves into the Championship table for next season, before that high-profile scheduler at the league offices has to…Preston on Tuesday w/ a few wankers in tow…namely their gaffer and star centre-half

 Coyne; Naughton, Wheater, McManus, Taylor; Robson, O’Neil, Williams, Arca; Killen, McDonald

• Marvin Emnes no longer missing in action – he’s back on the bench…still no Nani though
• Barry Robson continues his recent brilliance – inside 3 minutes his free kick seems destined for the Derby net, only to be headed away to safety at the last
• Talk about fine fettle: Robbo opens the scoring for us again! A wonder strike from the edge of the area into the top right corner past a helpless David Martin – Derby 0-1 Boro – 15 mins
• Gordon Strachan Appreciation Society thriving on AV’s live blog – the old resistance to the new gaffer it certainly isn’t on display here
• Danny Coyne earning the virtual platitudes too for his overall composure
• And it’s gone straight to his head around 30 minutes as he tries to invoke some of the past goalkeeping calamities – some butterfingers moments are mitigated nicely by intervention from Mick
• Results at this stage – 40 mins in – going our way…sort of: Coventry losing…to Cardiff – but oh, Blackpool are down…to Sheff Utd…double balls!
• Completely unrelated to the goings on at Pride Park, and maybe best kept to ourselves…we’ve quite the soft spot for plucky Plymouth…Paul Mariner seems a good geezer and he’s quite familiar w/ our part of the world
• HT Derby 0-1 Boro
• Gary Gill thinks we look quite comfortable – Ali Brownlee goes further, saying we’re bossing the middle of the park and doing what we please
• 30 seconds into the 2^nd half GON is clattered – down momentarily but good to continue – Gordo only has 4 recognised midfielders you know
• AV chimes in amid the love-in for Barry Robson: ‘To be fair you wouldn’t want Robson to look at you… he has the black cold eyes of a shark, totally focused on the prey, and he has the tetchy Caledonian growl of of David Moyes too. Scary. Respect.’
• Boro continue the search for a second goal which could well kill off this affair – Mac looked to have bagged it in the 57^th min if not for a questionable off side decision
• Failure to step on the throat is finally punished: Chris Porter – recently on for Robbie Savage – powers home a header at the far post…Coyne lacked the inches to properly divert the ball…67 mins – Derby 1-1 Boro
• Double bugger as they say…6 minutes later it’s Michael Tonge – on loan from Stoke – volleying home from 25 yards to give the hosts a shock lead…Derby 2-1 Boro…two Derby crosses dealt with before the clearance fell nicely to the former Blades midfielder
• Gordo is going for it though – Lee Miller on for Arca in the 83^rd min to join recent sub Leroy Lita up front w/ Scott McDonald
• Hope is substituted for resignation after Rhys Williams commits a second bookable offence – first yellow given in 1^st half stoppage time – and is correctly sent off in the 88^th min – petulant foul on Dean Leacock
• Amazing spirit and fight under less than ideal circumstances! Leroy Lita atones for past transgressions by heading home an unlikely equalizer in stoppage time – Derby 2-2 Boro
• The rediscovered goodwill is quickly eviscerated – keep your damn kit on man…please fine and/or rollick him
• GG MOM – Barry Robson
• FT Derby 2-2 Boro

2 goals in the first 23 minutes deflated the Riverside and the paradigm of phantom entitlement was born. Fans were too fucked off to even stay the full 90 minutes as the ignominy became almost insurmountable. We managed to stay up, avoiding the further notoriety of being relegated on the back of a crushing cup defeat, but it was a sea change nevertheless. 21 months later we languish out of the top flight, and the direction of the club, or absence of it, has become emblematic of the current plight. Gordon Strachan didn’t just inherit a depleted squad, or severe financial restrictions, or an enormous task to get us back up. Bequeathed to the gaffer was a fan base so morose at the cumulative impact of those 21 months – indifferent to cash constraints and fiscal restructuring. We found the year zero – the big bang, as it were – the moment that the mood changed on Teesside, for the detriment of club and community.

Much like how fortunes changed that fateful Sunday morning (here anyway), Cardiff come to town hot off a 2-0 pasting at the Hawthornes to second place West Brom. The latest Boro home blunder rendered a 3-0 tonking from Blackpool. Divergent paths. The Riverside riddle needs to be solved – a result on Sunday can tell the televised world that we do have the bottle, the balls, the resolve, to make a fight of it and remain in contention, w/ clubs like Cardiff, for the escape hatch marked UP.

Gordo is surely cogitating squad permutations as we type. Will there be an early start to the enforced gardening leave for Sean St Ledger that will see him miss the rest of December? Do Chris Riggott and Emanuel Pogatetz reunite in the centre of defence? How about a recall for Danny Coyne? Too many questions – which is troubling at this stage. We’re witnessing first hand how clubs can stutter and vacillate at this level. The quest for a winning formula leading to a rich vein of form is still elusive. Winning Sunday may not catalyse that, but it certainly can help exorcise those old demons.

Reinforcements have been brought in – namely the 6’3″ of  ginger tincture that is Dave Kitson, on loan from Stoke City through the end of the year. Middlesbrough’s new, albeit temporary, mastadon is tasked with getting on the end of all those crosses that are to start coming into the opposing penalty area as the club look to break their duck under the new gaffer. Emanuel Pogatetz expects to contend for a starting berth as well after an express recovery from the fractured cheekbone suffered v Plymouth. We’d machinate more of a squad plan if it weren’t for the lingering getting-to-know-you phase miring the club since the new managerial appointment. Plus, we’ve a proper piss-up later this evening and can’t be fussed.

We do know that Forest are historically regal against us – Boro haven’t won in the last 12 head-to-head contests,  and Forest have 5 consecutive away wins on Teesside. Despite the two weeks off,  our extra hour of slumber will be relished, and we’ll be there shotgun w/ AV and his live matchcast.

The good, the bag, and the ugly shall follow sometime later in the weekend – result pending of course…

He’s continuing to re-engage most of the fan base on the results front…maybe the official loan acquisition of Sean St Ledger will foster more goodwill in the man management aspect of the football business? The capture of the Republic of Ireland international proves a great piece of commerce – an initially no-risk replacement for Robert Huth who can effectively audition for the rumoured £3.5m permanent move come January. Pick the right specimen from the loan striker bin and we could have something – a gaffer astute and discerning off and on the pitch.

Given all the real-world issues occurring in the region, why not a messiah of sorts for those exposed, and why not Gareth Southgate? Football can be the rally point – a scintillating product tearing up the parks on their way back to Premier League half-glory – connecting the Teesside perimeter back into the relevancy grid. The man was nearly canonised for his role in previous successes, so deifying wouldn’t be a gross overextension…