Boro Mania

Back to back 3-1 victories have left Boro flying high in the Championship and confidence must be sky high ahead of the vital clash with West Bromwich Albion at the weekend.

Firstly there was the victory over Roy Keane's Ipswich where Boro rarely looked like they were shifting out of 2nd gear. In truth Ipswich were a very poor side and Boro pretty much cruised through the game without breaking sweat.

Gary O'Neil opening the scoring after great work from Marvin Emnes, a superb header giving the keeper no chance. Then new Boro goal machine, somebody get that banner back up and replace Alves' head with Ali's , Jeremie Aliadiere came on for the largely ineffectual Leroy Lita. Ali got on the end of great Adam Johnson cross to glance a header into the far post, before making it 3-0 with a lovely turn and finish from the edge of the area. Ipswich grabbed a consolation goal with a late penalty but Boro more than deserved the victory.

Gareth Southgate is taking Boro forward

I want to take a little extra time to mention the performance of young Rhys Williams in the centre of the Boro midfield who I thought had a superb match. He largely kept his passing simple and rarely ventured too far forward but his tackling, ball-winning and general destructive play in the middle of the park was outstanding, providing a real shield in front of Wheater and Hines. In the first half in particular I thought the centre of the park was a real battle ground, Ipswich employing former mackem Grant Leadbitter to stir things up but Williams more than held his own and shone out as a real talent for the future.

Fast forward a few days, games come thick and fast in the Championship don't they!, and Boro are faced with a real tough test at Hillsborough and Sheffield Wednesday away. To make matters worse Boro quickly go a goal behind as Luke Varney, another product of the Crewe youth set up to score past us this season after Nicky Maynard, smashes a quality goal past Danny Coyne.

However this is a new Boro these days, a more resilient and confident Boro team and, rather than panic or let their heads drop, they carried on playing their football confident of getting back into the game. The equaliser was a little fortunate as Adam Johnson's cross was directed into his own net by Darren Purse.

Just into the second half and it was Aliadiere again who got onto the scoresheet, racing onto a throughball from Emnes and finishing well with his left foot. The result was put beyond any doubt when Adam Johnson, the best player on the pitch and arguably the most gifted player in the league, cut inside from the left and curled a right foot shot into the corner. New boy Sean St Ledger got the last ten minutes for his new club as Boro saw out the match for the 3 points.

A 3-1 away win over a decent Sheffield Wednesday side was a great result, what was even better was the way in which we got that result, playing some fluid attacking football and scoring goals.

So a great week to be a Boro fan and making things even better was former Boro player Jason Euell who got the winner for Blackpool against Newcastle, keeping Boro in 2nd place in the Championship.

We have a huge game coming up at the weekend against West Brom who look a very good side, however confidence must be high and hopefully fans will flock to the Riverside to get behind the team ahead of this top of the table clash.