In most glorious sunshine from a clear blue sky,
We acclaim the Boro who are really riding high,
As they take to the field against the Everton Toffees,
Can we secure these three points in the Boro’s coffers?

Although our record here is certainly not the best,
The way we’re currently playing, we’ll surely pass this test,
After demolishing the Mackems, confidence should now be swelling,
But where is it all going to end? Sadly, no-one’s telling.

So, no changes today as we kick off the action,
In the first minute Macca misses one by a fraction,
He was off like a rocket; left his markers both for dead,
In our first attack the faces of the Blues were nearly red.

A lovely-looking ball found French Franck way out wide,
He carried it for fifty yards; my goodness, how he tried,
Just when it seemed to me that Goodison would be rocked,
Wonderful work from Hibbert meant that Queudrue’s shot was blocked.

Maccarone’s running with the ball and Weir looks petrified,
He seems to have no inkling of how to stem the tide,
Sadly for the Boro we see this attack so quickly die,
With a foul on Weir by Macca, who caught him rather high.

Southgate swings a ball out left, now things are looking great,
Unfortunately for Nemeth, he gave it too much weight,
It drifted out quite harmlessly, which was something of a shame,
Job and Macca stood there in the box but the ball in bore no name.

Ten minutes in and once again we see Boro hassle and harry,
Maccarone hits a rocket, which Gerrard could only parry,
Then 'Johnny-on-the-Spot' again had all the Boro fans clappin’,
Slovakian Szilard Nemeth scored another simple tap-in.

Boro faced a corner as the hosts showed more ambition,
Schwarzer in the Boro goal took up a great position,
He managed to get a glove to it and pushed it o’er the top,
The second he held convincingly; brought this attack to a sudden stop.

The next move was fantastic from a Boro point of view,
Great ball from Geremi to Job, who knew exactly what to do,
He tried to pick out Nemeth, who was standing all alone,
The cross was blocked; a corner kick; the chance, for now, had gone.

Some of the football we are seeing really takes away the breath,
And the pace of Maccarone frightens Everton to death,
We’re still oozing the confidence shown in Tuesday’s derby match,
The entertaining way we’re playing makes it wonderful to watch.

Long cross into the goalmouth caused concern which Schwarzer saw,
Campbell crashed against the Aussie and suffered injury to his jaw,
Sporting Schwarzer kicked the ball out so the game was quickly dead,
For instant treatment was essential to this injury to the head.

Macca burst into the area but the task would prove too much,
As the very last split second he got an awfully bad touch,
He’ll be really disappointed as it bounced and hit his knee,
What will this mean for Boro? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Stockdale claimed that he’d been fouled and he let his anger show,
Cautioned by the referee who simply didn’t want to know,
Scrappy play, it must be said, and much to my surprise,
Allowed in Toffees’ Campbell – from one yard – to equalise.

Greening on the counter-charge then Maccarone found,
Some thought that he’d been pulled down as he quickly fell to ground
Loud cries from all the Boro fans as loudly they complained,
And McClaren also felt aggrieved and had to be restrained.

Boro must be happy with the chances they’re creating,
And the Toffees at the present time are still there for the taking,
Although they’re now on level terms, it was really through good luck,
A rebound fell to Campbell, which he very promptly took.

Macca laid a ball to Geremi; their play at times was cunning,
He released a wondrous strike and the save was equally stunning,
The ball was struck from twenty yards; he really gave it welly,
Gerrard pushed it for a corner; it’ll look good on the telly.

Elaborate work by Joseph Job, really showed his class,
Then he frustrated everyone with his awful final pass,
Everton piling on the pressure and Southgate really should have cleared,
It almost brought the second goal that we have now long feared.

Since they equalised the score, the Toffees simply haven’t stopped,
Whereas, it would appear, that Boro’s work-rate’s clearly dropped,
With several clear-cut chances being created by ‘Mine host,’
As they send another effort marginally wide of Boro’s post.

In added time we saw again the home defenders shake,
As Maccarone leaves three men, all lying in his wake,
But he took it far too wide, not what we want to see,
And he went on again to squander this good chance - number three.

How many more missed chances are we going to see?
As Nemeth, running in, begs “Give the ball to me,”
He receives the ball from Joseph Job then strikes with all his might,
The ‘keeper couldn’t hold it as Macca raced in really bright.

But Macca couldn’t reach it, no matter how he tried,
When the Toffees’ ‘keeper fumbled as the pressure was applied,
Gerrard, at the moment, proves impossible to beat,
As he grabs the ball most bravely, at Maccarone’s feet.

Six reasonable opportunities, they now have come our way,
Yet, almost unbelievably, the score remained 1-1 on the day,
To think that they are equal is something that really jars,
There’s no doubt at all that Everton will be counting their lucky stars.

In an effort to give his team that final extra boost,
Everton’s teenage ‘Wonder Boy,’ Rooney, is now introduced,
He’s only seventeen but his pace will really worry yer,
I’ve even heard the lad described as a fully-grown Bull Terrier.

It took only a minute then we almost had a shock,
When the threat of ‘Terrier’ Rooney required a massive Schwarzer block,
We then saw the two of them together in a most unsightly ruck,
Which was defused by the referee, who promptly put both in the book.

Agony for Maccarone as once again he fails to score,
When up with Job and Greening he couldn’t have done much more,
The three of them together had the Toffees’ men on toast,
Then once again our hero saw it bounce back off the post.

He could, perhaps, have placed it, as he had the time to kill it,
Sadly, for the Boro fans, young Macca chose to drill it,
But credit goes to Gerrard as again he showed such good work,
He grabbed the ball close to his chest as it bounced back off the woodwork.

Macca then joined Nemeth, together in attack,
Szilard made a wrong choice and went on to have a crack,
With Job completely unmarked and only six yards out,
He’d have had a simple tap-in but the move then came to nowt.

Greening then left Nemeth with ‘just’ Gerrard still to beat,
But he couldn’t dig the ball out, from underneath his feet,
If we go home today with less than all three points,
Then this will be a dire result, which greatly disappoints.

Graveson took on Ugo and flicked the ball over his head,
The Boro man then downed him as he was left for dead,
It was twenty yards out from goal and slap-bang in the middle,
Rooney had a stab at it but he couldn’t solve the riddle.

We put six men in the wall, which looked like ample cover,
The young lad got it up and down and it only just went over,
His effort was a good one and it missed by not a lot,
It might well have beaten Schwarzer who was rooted to the spot.

A good free kick by Pembridge, midway in Boro’s end,
Found its way to Campbell, causing Boro to defend,
Brought to a stop by Schwarzer who was answering all demands,
He showed wonderful positioning and a good, safe pair of hands.

The Everton pressure’s now relentless and they seek to pile it on,
They’re looking for the three points now, with all resistance gone,
Then the ref. is forced to leave the field, it looks like he’s got cramp,
As expected, there’s no sympathy, received from either camp.

Southgate then goes off the field, he’s suffering with his back,
This may well encourage the Toffees, to increase now their attack,
My fears were almost realised when Schwarzer lost sight of the ball,
But stand-in captain, Ugo, was there to answer to the call.

He cleared it for a corner, when he proved to be the master,
But the result was, for the Boro, to turn into disaster,
The ball in was a great one, with Campbell left in space,
His task was really simple to score his second Toffees’ ace.

We’ve missed so many chances in a game we should have won,
Boks and Marinelli coming on but the damage has been done,
Boro’s confidence – to me it’s clear – is very quickly draining,
And as the end approaches it’s so clear our interest is waning.

On opportunities created we could have had a drawer full,
And to lose this game today makes us all feel really awful,
I think I’ll sit down now with a couple of strong coffees,
Cos I simply can’t believe we lost this game to the Toffees.

We might blame back luck and poor finishing for having failed to score,
But we should have taken something for we had chances galore,
After making what was, truthfully, the very best of starts,
Defeat, today, by Everton, has broken Boro hearts.

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