The early-season road labyrinth continues at Leeds. Boro could use a league win to establish some credible promotion momentum. Simon Grayson just wants his charges to play a competent, composed 90 minutes. Southampton enjoyed a painless re-entry to the Championship at their expense, and local rivals Bradford City provided exceptionally stiff competition in the league cup at midweek.

Marvin Emnes has blossomed early for four goals. Tony Mowbray has made an early, indelible impression propelling the Dutch dynamite into an August frenzy. Injuries to Davide Somma and Luciano Becchio have the home gaffer trolling for steady replacements – maybe it’s a chance for former Boro target Ross McCormack to finally shine?

Official Materials

Can’t seem to find a match pack from the hosts – have a bit of the BBC preview to compensate for its absence – Boro maintain journalistic excellence with their own homemade digital dossier

Know Your Enemy

From the assembly line of talent at Livingston, Robert Snodgrass! He’s of the generation that produced Graham Dorrans, James McPake and Boro whelp Andy Halliday. The inimitable Leeds website has him listed as a striker – we always thought of him as a van der Vart-type roaming playmaker…

Danger Man

Ivorian attacking midfielder Max Gradel. His 18 goals last term warranted a bevy of interest from various suitors – he’s opted to repay the club’s faith by sticking around to terrorise opposing defenders. A valuable chip for the board to have if they are inclined to cash in…

On Offer

A win for either helps maintain a workable gap between whoever the premature leaders are after the weekend. Boro travel to Oakwell on Tuesday before heading back to Teesside for a date with Birmingham. Leeds host Hull before a jaunt down to West Sam. Neither side wants to stunt the growth of a playoff/promotion push by carrying on into three weeks into the season still searching for your first three point haul.

Boro battle Pompey on Teesside as both clubs look to develop a firm foundation for a successful campaign. The clubs shared the spoils last season: Portsmouth battled back from a 2-0 defecit, with a bit of help from a provocative Aaron Mokoena, to rescue a late point – down south at Fratton Park the visitors produced an overwhelmingly brave display en route to a valuable 0-0 draw.

Official Materials

The travelers have their dossier done and dusted – Boro’s in-house folks ostensibly are finalising the scouting and team news intricacies. Probably a ploy to garner more pageviews…

Know Your Enemy

They’re still an intimate outfit – 15 full time players, including new signings Jason Pearce, Luke Varney and David Norris

Danger Man

Liam Lawrence – when he wants to, he can dominate – surgical from set pieces, tenacious like an agitated rottweiler, composed and direct in midfield – scored 7 in 17 games on loan under Steve Cotterill before making the permanent move as part of the Marc Wilson transaction

On Offer

Three points for either would signal a positive start to the long, hard slog ahead – the loser has to carry the ignominy of inaugural defeat through the league cup interruption on Tuesday – a point apiece should satisfy the centrists out there…

Fifty points is generally the target for survival in this division, though some posit that the woeful form of Preston and Sheffield United actually lowers that number this time round – a number as low as 45 may do the trick. However close that target appears now, Boro still need results to cement their escape from once-calamitous circumstances. Here’s our casual analysis of the final 10 league matches – a forecast of where we get the points, and a genera estimation of where it leaves us after the final whistle on 07 May 11…

Boro v Watford

Reverse fixture: Watford 3-0 Boro

League position:8th

Form: 6th

This lot have beat us in three straight. We even lost to them during their brief Prem appearance in 2006-07 when they still had Ashley Young for fuck’s sake! Clearly a recent bogey club – a draw would be a positive step

Boro v Leicester

Reverse fixture: Leicester 0-0 Boro

League position: 10th

Form: 13th

Sven and his band of big-wage mercenaries, augmented with a bit of the bargain hitman Andy King, have rescued the fortunes imperiled by the flaccid start under Paulo Sousa – something tells us Boro will experience an international break hangover on the way to a loss

Sheff Utd v Boro

Reverse fixture Boro 1-0 Sheff Utd

League position: 23rd

Form: 23th

From @mcwd last Saturday: Micky adams is practically resigning on bbc Sheffield now . Who could really blame him for a public suicide? One win since taking charge, leading his beloved Blades straight to the League One rendition of the Sheffield derby…if Megson keeps Wednesday up! We’ll draw, but it’ll feel much worse

Ipswich v Boro

Reverse fixture: Boro 1-3 Ipswich

League position: 16th

Form: 21st

Bomb investigators may refer to it as the point of impact or summat…our CSI-derived training and immersion fails us presently. What is most certainly was is the collection of moments where an entire support base realized they we’re being grifted by a domineering Glaswegian with an aversion to standard courtesy, backed by a blinded leader incapable of assuaging the masses. Tempted to go for a plucky win…it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve left someone’s ground with an unexpected full haul

Boro v Barnsley

Reverse fixture: Barnsley 2-0 Boro

League position: 15th

Form: 19th

Some qualify the earlier loss at Oakwell as late lapse that saw us miss out on precious points – at 1-0 down we were far superior and pushing for an equaliser when they hit us with a late haymaker…now that Adam Hammill is at Wolves a satisfying win should be easier to come by

Burnley v Boro

Reverse fixture: Boro 2-1 Burnley

League position: 7th

Form: 7th

It was Kink-tastic climaxes like the one at the Riverside which cemented the fate of Brian Laws – the Clarets were on an acute decline ever since Owen Coyle took that ‘lateral move’…Eddie Howe has come up from Bournemouth to craft a new brand of positive football…one that negatively results in a cruel loss

Hull v Boro

Reverse fixture: Boro 2-2 Hull

League position: 9th

Form: 9th

By the time this match happens Boro could be safe, unless Hull’s former resident fitness specialist Phil Brown cobbles together a hell of a run at Deepdale…they can’t play Scunthorpe 9 more times we won’t be, but the loss will feel less damaging

Boro v Coventry

Reverse fixture: Coventry 1-0 Boro

League position: 19th

Form: 22nd

Kick them while they’re down. Aidy Boothroyd is gone. Avenge the injustice suffered at the hands, and fists, of Marlon King at the Ricoh Arena…this will be a resounding win

Cardiff v Boro

Reverse fixture: Boro 1-0 Cardiff

League position: 4th

Form: 14th

With Hull, Watford, and Burnley bearing down we could get a first-hand account of another Cardiff late-season bottle job…how sweet would it taste to fuck up their plans for Wembley? An enterprising draw could help achieve that…

Boro v Doncaster

Reverse fixture: Doncaster 2-1 Boro

League position: 17th

Form: 15th

At this stage we’ll be on 53 points – provided the wild machinations listed above actually materialize…this could be a killshot…our flourishing season-ending win could confine Donny to League One

Yeah, we made it…56 points. Based on the last three final league tables that’s good for 14th or 15th…far from pre-season objectives. That final sensation you hear is the collective tearing of the final lot of betting slips, the ones that relied on daft suppositions. Like Kris Boyd scoring goals for fun. We were a deluded bunch, no?

Boro with a revamped academy back four: Steele, McMahon, Hines, Bates(c), Bennett, Bailey, O’Neil, Robson, Taylor, Boyd, Lita – Subs: Ripley, Grounds, Arca, Smallwood, Park, Miller, Emnes

pre-match bobs

• Lee Miller, Notts County folk hero, makes a return to the bench – Conor Ripley is named substitute ahead of the injured Danny Coyne

• 4 unbeaten in the league for the hosts – a return of 8 points from 12

• GON/Robbo/Tayls sit on 4 yellow cards – one more merits automatic suspension

1^st half

• PNE – 3 CBs at the back – how does Boro respond to an unconventional system?

• 84 meetings: 37 W 20 D 27 L to the Boro

• Early knock for Robbo as he writhes on the ground favouring his left leg. It must be a hell of an ache to keep him down for this long

• Iain Hume is the new PNE danger man now that Jon Parkin is at Cardiff

• Ref: Mick Russell (Hertfordshire)

• Phil Brown assesses the orange boots of Leroy Lita and thinks ponderously, ‘why flesh coloured footwear?’

• Midway through the first half and we’re seeing betterplay from the full backs, with Tony McMahon enjoying his usual free reign on the right side

• Sean St Ledger on the changes under Phil Brown: things have been much more organised versus the stewardship of Little Ferg, aiding an improved spirit and general goodwill towards their fellow Lilywhites

• For all of the tangible improvement under Tony Mowbray we still struggle mightily with providing quality service for our strikers

• ‘Growing discontent’ from the crowd re: Boyd

HT Boro 0-0 PNE

Lethal Leroy Lita is certainly less so when partnering with Kris Boyd. The links are there with Emnes and McDonald – with the former Rangers hitman it’s a cold a loveless affair. Whoever is upfront needs to be in the box when the full backs are pushing up because  they’re putting balls in. Very important to keep the discipline and not switch off, i.e. don’t get mugged. Ian Hume is ‘a tricky customer’ says Gary Gill

It’s another tremendous start from Nicky Bailey – this is a remarkable run of 5 or 6 games where’s he’s been the midfield stalwart we’ve craved for so long. Seb Hines has acquitted himself well with a confident and composed first half display.

2^nd half

• Robbo off – Arca on…injury gets the better of our resident hard man

• Sustained pressure to start the second half; Bailey in the middle of everything, and Boro are getting more bodies in the box

• Good performance Sean St Ledger. His former loan club are keeping him busy defensively, preventing his patented surging up-field runs

• Phil Brown continues to bend the ear of the ref: Joe Bennett has dived 3 times in his worthless estimation

• Boyd exits for Emnes to wide derision

• Iain Hume and Seb Hines clatter hard, sparking worry for Hume after his head injury at the hands of Chris Morgan last season while still with Barnsley. Both men are good to carry on

• Marvin Emnes has the best chance so far to put Boro further ahead, as the ball falls to him in a Shaun Harrad-esque way. The end product is risibly bad, hit horribly off target

• ‘Like Beckenbauer at his best’ – Matty Bates with a wonder goal to give Boro their reward! Boro 1-0 PNE thanks to a marauding run redolent of a Boro-era Sean St Ledger!

• Andy Lonergan keeping PNE close here – a clutch of stellar saves have kept his side within shouting distance

• Phil Brown and Brian Horton are having kittens on the touchline, denigrating Bennett for perceived continuous diving, and as a result Bennett isn’t getting the benefit of refereeing doubt

• Att: 16157

• Super play from Julio Arca in his limited shift; a terrific resumption of the profitable engine room link up with Nicky Bailey

• Macca keeps buccaneering forward, offering loads of crosses, with varying degrees of success

• Another late switch off, right on the usual cue: PNE deserve fuck all from this match and somehow find themselves level thanks to Billy Jones, who also tallied in the tilt at Deepdale, although less dramatically…Boro 1-1 PNE

GG MOM – Bailey

FT Boro 1-1 PNE

They were dead but not quite buried. We spurned bags of chances to kill this off only to be undone by some dire finishing. That’s what supporters immediately identify at the end of things, and it’s absolutely spot on; Leroy Lita is great in spurts, Marvin Emnes has tremendous promise, but Kris Boyd is a lost cause. The sooner he naffs off to either Glasgow, Grozny, or Bursaspor the better.

Tony McMahon and Joe Bennett were ever-present on the flanks, however the left back was under the keen forensic eye of referee Mick Russell, heavily influenced by the constant shouting and pointing from the opposing technical area. Frankly it was a shocking display of sportsmanship – better yet, a lack of – from the PNE brain trust. This was amateur dramatics at their best from the thespian duo of Brown and Horton

Tunnel reaction with a muted Tony Mowbray: feels worse than a defeat – second half was where we want to go as a football team – the opposition will always have a chance if you can’t put the ball in the net – we should be beating teams like this at home – we want to get the Tayls situation resolved – Robbo: a gaping hole in his foot – Bennett: fiery, he stands his ground exceptionally, going to be a top footballer – Seb Hines: does the basics well – Kris Boyd: needs to get his head down and work hard, his struggles don’t necessarily reflect his approach in training

Nicky Bailey cuts a dispirited figure: they came here to flood the midfield and make it hard, and they did it fairly well – walking off the pitch you obviously look for something or someone to blame – we have to start sticking the ball away, keep working, and look forward to the next game

Final words with Matthew Bates: wants to keep playing the ball from the back – late switch off is the story of the season – we dominate possession, then concede from 1 or 2 half chances – we were miles ahead in everything – maybe there is a bit of nervousness? – confident that Wheats can excel at Bolton – will be a considerable step up from defending Bristol one week and marking Didier Drogba the next – things are going the right way, looking forward to the games as opposed to earlier in the season

The virtual atmosphere was so casual we actually considered toggling something else, instead of the alt-tabbing between the live blog, BBC, the Saturday clockwatch, and West Ham/Wigan en espanol. We saved it for long afterwards, fearing the dulling, desensitising effect it would have on our orgasmic joy.

Some Boro bullets in lieu of regular match notes – memo to minuscule regional internet radio operation: a large percentage of your listenership is down to Boro supporters outside the local catchment area – broadcast the fucking matches instead of your foul brand of benign Europop, even if it’s a dead rubber…

• So Gary O’Neil is alarmed by the gulf in class – nothing perceived about it – between Boro and the top two in the Championship, West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle. Failure to get points off either – in relegation and promotion battles alike – might be the perfect illustration. Two points. Out of twenty-four. Versus WBA: 0 wins – 0 draws – 4 losses / 11 goals conceded / 0 goals scored. And Newcastle: 0 wins – 2 draws – 2 losses / 7 goals conceded / 3 goals scored. What else is there to say Gary?

• Lamb on the run! Middlesbrough’s chief executive took to his imaginary throne in the BBC Radio Tees studio. Here his spin, in every convoluted sense of the word:

1. The it’s-never-too-early-to-get-promoted notion? Against it -
2. We’ll be the best resourced club next season – he backs off a bit later – one of the top-resourced clubs…ahem
3. So revisionist – he attempts to berate a caller illustrating how the region has soured under his recent stewardship. Cup runs, European finals, top half finishes, football under Bryan Robson, the big spending era currently dooming the club to financial prudence…yes, all his doing…and the town was happy
4. ‘Define the word sanction’ – used to describe his role in the Alves episode. This particular chap merely wanted to know the power structure for such a critically bad transaction – all he got was the bombast of a well-educated, strangely confident trapped rodent.

• Luke Williams will be a man. The Teesville tyro is getting his advanced footballing ‘birds and bees’ under Gordo and the rest of the senior team. Some good touches and the seeds of intelligent runs displayed in the first 45 mins of his starting first team bow. This kid might be bigger than the parmo, and virtually everyone is pulling for him.

• The highlight of the season? Fantastic supporters – anchored by this lot

• We know no off-season – reviews of pre-season prognostications, dissecting this season like the cheap biology lab frog it was, deep stretching for WC 2010 S Africa, and so much more of the decent effort tinged w/ haphazard finishing this space has become…

Work continues apace to bolster the ranks beyond the favours Gordo ostensibly cashed in to keep Marcus Bent for a few more weeks. The funds saved from the St Ledger screw-up (£3m) will also pad the unknown budget for a squad augmentation – so based on the conjecture available vis a vis possible targets and their reported asking price let’s call it somewhere nigh on £10m. Every bit of that will need wringing to ensure we can capitalize on the decent incision and passion displayed recently. That last bit of quality, creating chances, and goals, out of skill and intelligence – if it were present we’d still be talking Prem, the annual cup run, aspirations for repeats of previous glory. Without it we sit and contemplate the current untenable position – on the outside of serious promotion debate, irrelevant in the cups, borderline laughing stock because we tried to reshape and failed miserably – the days of Hasselbaink/Yakubu/Viduka and the like replaced w/ drab misrepresentations fueling a downward trajectory…

The middlesbroughfcblog.com casita witnessed live Boro footie on the telly for the first time since spring. Sod that nonsense! Like when we became full-time fag smokers, an informed decision was made – Ali and Gary Gill would guide us…the visuals there only for confirmation and reinforcement…here’s what we deduced by listening and not watching:

• Full strength squad – like we asked our Arsenal-loving and Rafa Benitez-taunting mate – does he really have a choice?
• Early on: Johnno has been electric – switching flanks to terrorise Cit-eh w/ maximum effect
• Mancini looks like a knob in his baseball cap
• Steady dusting of snow/precipitation – loads of empty seats
• Is Gordo salivating at the under-strength side fielded by the visitors? Benjani up front on his own??
• Final ball still lacking (see above)
• 30 mins – Johnno pulls up lame w/ a re-aggravation of his hamstring knack – ultimately subbed off for Marvin Emnes
• Shawky on the bench? What the eff?
• Gordo is hell Bent: castigating the striker because he thinks more can be done – Bent retorts w/ a ‘give me better service’ – it has been pretty appalling thus far
• Martin Petrov, in the eyes of an unbiased Arsenal supporter: ‘Why does a bloody Bulgarian need a little blue scarf? It’s hardly Turks and Caicos…Bulgarians rank just  above Turks…utter wankers’ (he is their best player of the first half though)
• And that’s why – sashaying through the middle of the park to carve open our defence and free Benjani for a cool finish right before the end of the half
• During the half-time cuppa and fag: Gary Gill asks are we content to contain their attack versus creating our own? Gamble, be brave!
• City improve their quality at the break – Richards/De Jong off – Barry/Tevez on
• 53 mins – Marvin Emnes off now after clattering w/ Pablo Zabaleta – unremarkable 23 mins from the Dutchie – Mark Yeates on
• Some of that nice work from The Boro: Hoyte and Franks juke and jive on the left to earn a corner – clearance from an indecisive Macca shot earns another – played long – Macca back on the left pops a beauty in at the far post that Rhys Williams plants on the top of Shay Given’s net
• Wheats labouring w/ a right ankle concern – existing niggle…
• 2^nd half has been a more ‘Come On Boro’ approach, but the will exerted to contain Cit-eh is compromising our attack – like we need help there!
• GOG MOM – Macca
• Final sortie – a corner delivered from GON finds Jonathan Franks – it’s on target but blocked by Sylvinho – hand ball??
• FT – Boro 0-1 Manchester Cini
• Post match – a dispirited Macca laments his two missed opportunities, along w/ the  inability to consistently carve out chances – GON: we worked hard – conceding when we did really dented the mood – the squad needs help – can’t compete w/ the WBA/Newcastles at this rate

Good riddance – naff off for this year FA Cup – Swansea on Saturday at the Riverside. Get that Celtic contingent down here post haste…

The existing deficiencies were again magnified in the loss to Barnsley 2-1. Boro negotiated suspensions and injuries to field another disparate side: Jonathan Franks on the wide right of a previously little used, though historically Strachan-favoured 4-5-1 -Marcus Bent foundered alone up front – Arca was in over Yeates again – Hoyte dallied some more on the left, ahead of 3 relatively well compensated and rested recognized left-backs. Never mind that the former Arsenal man and drafted replacement for Luke Young provided the opening goal – a benign cross cum shot from 35 yards out, adamantly labeled by the under-achiever as intentional. The visitors, heartened by the jovial and voluble traveling supporters, excelled early on and bossed it. Barnsley regrouped after the break, as is their wont, and changed shape to create 2 goals that changed the course and rendered Boro craven again. Mark Robins is starting to harness and conjure some of that old Oakwell magic – the Tykes now rest 15^th in the table on 30 points, but w/ two massive games in hand. Capitalise on those and we’ll have a new entrant into the playoff discussion…

The live blog is still on official Christmas holiday in Tenerife, and our normally reliable BBC Tees radio feed was replaced w/ a freakish imitation of Revolution 9 -  turn me on dead man…

• Celebrated egoist Leroy Lita suspended for punch petulance at the weekend
• Chris Riggott officially back – partners w/ David Wheater in the heart of defence
• Mark Yeates – still studying that lump of coal inexplicably planted in his Christmas stocking
• Arca goes close early on, capping a fine flowing team move – the strong shot denied by a full-stretching Luke Steele
• Boro goal! from Justin Effing Hoyte!! his deep, high cross from the right wrong-foots Steele and nestles in the top corner of the net – Barnsley 0-1 Boro – 24 mins
• Solid defending from Wheats – perfectly timed intervention in the box to stymie Hugo Colace
• No half-time ruminations – see above
• Barnsley reshape post-break – failure to clear a corner at the near post results in Stephen Foster heading the Tykes level – Barnsley 1-1 Boro – 49 mins
• GON tries to restore the lead quickly – latches on to a decent ball from Bent, but chips his effort cruelly over the bar
• Where is Julio Arca? 58 mins – Daniel Bogdanovic is given space/time to cross on the left – the delivery is met by an onrushing Hugo Colace to beat a helpless Danny Coyne – Barnsley 2-1 Boro
• Luke Williams makes his Boro bow – comes on for Jonathan Franks in the 73^rd – the little ginger doppelganger is the youngest senior debutant since good old Tommy Murray against Sheffield Wednesday in 1905…ah memories
• Emil Halfredsson – Icelandic winger – very impressive for the hosts
• Boro start to hibernate for the last 15 minutes or so until a quick pair of half-chances for the young starlet – a fierce Adam Johnson drive clips off the 16 year olds shin and painfully close to the Barnsley goal – right before the death he has another pop – better, but not enough for rescue
• With no GG to lead us, MOM honours go to Chris Riggott – solid in his return and a bit of a calming influence on our Redcar Rock

League duties take a back seat this weekend – Manchester Cini and their bespoke new gaffer bring the quarter-billion pound novelty – and possibly future relegated step-child – to the Riverside for the FA Cup. And it’s on the telly proper!

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.

It was innocuous enough – our Arsenal supporting mate was keen to wring a prediction for the Tangerines visit. We rarely commit to a score, largely due to their disastrous repercussions, but had this to say:

• replication of the form from the weekend will do nicely…
• should be the same side, though I reckon Johnno’s class has to be included if he’s ready to play + GON and Rhys Williams picked up minor knocks v QPR…
• gotta get the home form sorted – Blackpool play some nice passing football, but they’re atrocious away from Bloomfield Road and I fully expect them to ultimately park the bus…

Partial credit on the last bit. Ian Holloway had his team play some of that nice passing football – and Boro weren’t terribly interested in stopping the surges. Two goals in a five minute span from Gary Taylor-Fletcher gifted an insurmountable lead and those in attendance unleashed hell on the product served up to them. Holloway also conceded that he actually banked on the Riverside crowd spooking their side, allowing his charges to command the contest.

What is the solution? That’s the big ask. Gordon Strachan has been refreshingly frank – we don’t need more propaganda, we are patient, and the derision is fully warranted.

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…