Boro Mania

Middlesbrough travelled to the KC Stadium in a hope to continue their recent run of good away form. Gareth Southgate named an unchanged side with Mido, contrary to most reports, missing out on the game.

Hull City named a couple of Boro old boys in their side with the away fans giving a good round of applause for George Boateng, a player who would have given our midfield a little bit of experience so severly lacking at the moment, had we kept him. A slightly less friendly ovation was given to 37 year old Nick Barmby.

Middlesbrough started the game with some slick passing moves with decent chances falling to Jeremie Aliadiere, Didier Digard and Tuncay but Hull defended well to snuff out attacks. At the other end Hull showed that they pose a very dangerous threat on the counter attack with a couple of very good headed chances wasted by Geovanni.

Into the second half and the game tightened as both sides attacked with a little more caution. There were a number of decent half chances before some excellent attacking play from Justin Hoyte saw Boro open the scoring in the 79th minute. Hoyte took a pass from Aliadiere and broke into the Hull box, he kept his composure and picked out Tuncay who flicked the ball into the net brilliantly to send the away fans into raptures.

The joy, however, was short lived as once again Boro showed that they cannot defend a lead. Ross Turnbull will hold his hands up and take the blame for the own goal but Boro's defending, so soon after taking the lead, was very poor. Pogatetz could only clear as far as Mendy and with Taylor struggling to get close to him he rifled a shot goalwards. It beat Turnbull at his near post, smacked against the upright and rebounded into the net off the back of the helpless Turnbull.

What happened next can only be described as a shocking sequence of events from the match officials, costing Boro a share of the points. Firstly, with Boro pushing up field seeking a winning goal, a long punt forward sailed over the backline with Geovanni sprinting onto it. Replays clear show the diminutive Brazilian was yards offside when the ball was played, error number one. With Geovanni racing onto the ball in the Boro area, David Wheater went shoulder to shoulder with the Brazilian, who promptly lost his legs and hit the deck. The referee pointing to the spot to give what can only be described as a very soft penalty, he compounded these mistakes by showing Wheater a red card.

To pour salt into the wound, King's penalty was poor and just crept under Turnbull when the keeper maybe should've kept it out.

So Boro travelled home with nothing from a game they deserved at least point from. Bad luck, shocking decisions from the officials and a lot of naivety and inexperience costing Boro dearly.

Middlesbrough Player Ratings

Ross Turnbull - 5 - Dealt with a lot of the aerial balls into the box well and was on course for another comfortable display. Disappointing to be beaten at his near post and could've done better with the penalty. Not his best performance this season but nothing to be getting worried about.

Justin Hoyte - 8 - Continues to impress me and was very good going forward.

David Wheater - 6 - Shocking decision went against him, was never a penalty or a red card in my book. Still a bit more experience might have told him not to go in as strong as he did against a player who would clearly make the most of it.

Emanuel Pogatetz - 7 - Steady display and made some excellent interceptions.

Andrew Taylor - 5 - Very quiet game and I thought he could have gotten out to Mendy quicker to block the shot for their first goal.

Jeremie Aliadiere - 6 - Linked well with Hoyte and has the pace and ability to get himself into good positions, however if he can't develop a final ball or a finish he will not be in the team much longer. Very frustrating.

Didier Digard - 7 - Thought his work rate was excellent and he competed well in the middle of the park. His distribution could have been better though.

Julio Arca - 7 - First half was excellent and very composed with the ball, faded in the second half.

Stewart Downing - 6 - Had a couple of good chances and looked very classy at times but didn't run at the Hull backline enough.

Afonso Alves - 4 - Had a couple of flashes of good skill but posed no threat to the Hull backline. What does Southgate do? Try to play him out of this slump or take him out of the firing line? A lot depends on Mido at the moment, if he can't get fit Southgate has no choice but to continue with Alves.

Tuncay - 7 - Took his goal very well and looked a different class to most other players on the field. Must be getting a little disheartened with his team mates performances.