We’ve all taken our seats and the weather is glorious,
It’s sad to report that the crowd isn’t great,
Great things are expected of the new Boro ace,
We saw a positive start by the Rovers, rewarded
Suddenly for home fans a moment to savour,
Jonathan Greening’s now leading the race,
David Thomson – this lad is so awfully bright,
A ball back from Ugo was something of a fluke,
Some lads in the Boro team find the going real tough,
Duff’s threatening again, now the ball he’s caressing,
Maccarone wins the ball, now he’s off like a deer,
I’ve no doubt Andy Cole is now feeling so bitter,
Almost instantaneously we see the scene change,
Big problems being caused for us by both Dunn and Duff,
Marinelli lacks focus and his game’s totally muted,
Carlos is being encouraged now to be somewhat bolder,
“What a save by Schwarzer,” as the defenders slept in,
Damien Duff’s once more teasing the Boro boys in red,
The ‘keeper’s been superb against what’s been a procession,
As we’d anticipated, for his game had not been super,
Thoughts go back to last week’s final moments when we were slacking,
One can clearly see the Boro fans are looking quite depressed,
It seems that Blackburn Rovers are the ones prepared to gamble,
Geremi passed a dream ball in, right to the nearside post,
Several Boro corners come: just see the Rovers scowl,
There’s now some constant Boro pressure; this is much, much better stuff!
One can see that on the Boro bench there’s an air of sheer frustration,
Now thirty-minutes of this half has just about expired,
The general view around the ground is what the Boro will need ‘ll,
Moments later we almost saw the great goal of which we’re dreaming,
But this game is not yet ended and a free kick had us worried,
Right at the death, it must be said; the Rovers almost nicked it,
Exactly seven days ago we were crying in our beers,
But, kid ye not, my Boro friends, three points does not a good team make them,
All we want to see now is the Boro victorious,
Two games so far played and two points in the bank,
And today sees the welcome recall of French Franck.
And fewer than last week have come through the gate,
So, go to it, lads, and show we’ve got some real grafters,
Entertain us and win; the place will fill to the rafters.
Maccarone’s the name and he’s blessed with such pace,
If he can continue where he left off last week,
Then it might well turn out that three points we can sneak.
With a flurry of corners, all quickly awarded,
With a wee bit of luck Boro stoutly defended,
And in no time at all, the danger had ended.
It’s three against two in Middlesbrough’s favour,
Maccarone excites: he’s now getting the feel,
But the ball’s finally cleared by big Lucas Neill.
And he passes to Massimo who’s well clear and in space,
He managed to find Boksic, but to the ground he then sank,
A chance, without doubt, but the score is still blank.
Is attacking the Boro from way out on the right,
We again failed to close down and he sent in a gem,
And Ugo was lucky not to score one, for them!
But once again Schwarzer got us off the hook,
Andy Cole got there real fast and seemed certain to convert,
In saving, the ‘Big man from Oz’ really risked being hurt.
But Greening’s not one of them as he rattles young Duff,
He not overawed and he’s not lost the plot,
In fact, I’d say Greening has learned quite a lot.
Boro up against it as the Rovers keep pressing,
But he’ll not be allowed to have things all his own way,
Great play by Ugo which once more saves the day.
Spots Boksic running wide and he’s well in the clear,
But Boks slips once again as he steadies to shoot,
It’s about time he went off for a new change of boot.
From just twelve yards out he missed an absolute sitter,
One-on-one with the ‘keeper and the new Rovers’ star,
Blazed one high but not handsome well over the bar.
Boksic bearing down on goal and well within range,
The ball wouldn’t drop though he tried hard to stun it,
Gave the defender the time and he came in and won it.
With Boro players, in the main, made to huff and to puff,
Frank Queudrue plays a poor ball; up goes Rovers’ tail,
But up steps again Gareth Southgate to get us out of jail.
It wouldn’t be a big surprise if he were soon substituted,
If the real truth were told we’re being run totally ragged,
And Carlos, amongst others, is now looking haggard.
When it seems to all present that the lad’s dropped his shoulder,
In a good attack with Boksic he then sent out a warning,
His shot flew into the stands when the goalmouth was yawning.
He pulled off another miracle as Cole quickly crept in,
A long ball in over the top saw instantaneous control,
He got his shot on the target and Mark saved a ‘certain’ goal.
He makes it look simple and leaves Queudrue for dead,
From the right he cut in and then let go a scorcher,
And fans, to a man, shouted “well done” to Mark Schwarzer!
In which the Rovers have enjoyed the lions’ share of possession,
Half time comes as a relief to the background of loud booing,
And we haven’t seen an awful lot we could describe as good viewing.
Carlos has been taken off and now on comes Colin Cooper,
It’s really rather vital that we get three points today,
As our next game, in the Premiership, is against Man.U. away.
Are things now being carried over? Because confidence is lacking,
Loyal fans are constantly shouting on their favourite reds,
But now again it’s Damien Duff who is tearing us to shreds.
When a shot from Alen Boksic left everyone totally unimpressed,
He was once more way off target; the same old sorry story,
Instead of passing on to Greening, the Croatian went for glory.
Whereas Boro, when they have the ball, simply appear to amble,
And poor ‘old’ Steve McClaren’s really spluttering and coughing,
As another Boro substitution appears to be in the offing.
Maccarone quickly gambled and had the defenders all on toast,
Boksic from a corner, should have done better, it must be said,
Instead of trying the fancy stuff he should have used his head.
As predator Maccarone is once more on the prowl,
Then, what a save by Friedel! Are Rovers now about to crack?
He stopped a stunning Geremi header in Boro’s very next attack.
Then Schwarzer saves us once again from the Rovers’ menace, Duff,
Every time he has the ball, we tend to stand and stutter,
As he puts another one on a plate, with a lovely daisy-cutter.
As this hasn’t been what one could call a super demonstration,
Sections of the crowd are fuming, as this simply won’t suffice,
Time now for another change: one more throw of the dice.
Maccarone’s taken off: he’s had a knock: he’s tired,
Such decisions are for managers, who must be big and bold,
But removing Maccarone leaves most Boro fans quite cold.
Be a fluke or a stroke of luck, to put the ball past Friedel,
Joseph Job’s the man brought on to the sound of much loud booing,
This move has shocked us all, but perhaps Steve knows what he’s doing.
Quick interchange then a wonderful shot across the goal went screaming,
Job was the man who hit it and you don’t get much better than that,
A couple of inches closer and McClaren’d have smiled like a Cheshire cat.
Schwarzer saved again from Dunn, as we were almost dead and buried,
Just look at all the faces in this wonderful panorama,
The question etched on ever face? Will we again see late, late drama?
Then Joseph Job saw one last chance; how wonderfully well he picked it,
Geremi certainly played his part: oh, what a wonderful sight!
And after that, we’ll all agree, the gaffer got it right.
But today the Boro’s late, late show, has the Rovers’ fans in tears,
And it’s Souness, now of Blackburn, who’s the one down in the dumps,
Because Boro, on the stroke of time, finally came up trumps.
Rovers were the better team and it took a lot to break them,
One inspirational change towards the end, Joseph Job’s the name,
Who was it that once said, “Football’s a funny old game.”