Are commiserations now in order for Mark Schwarzer just because he
Can’t be feeling too good now; after all he's an Aussie?
But he’ll remain professional and keep his pecker up,
After England triumphed over Australia to win the Rugby World Cup.

On a grey, misty day on Teesside the crowd’s already rocking and bouncing,
Hoping to see a Liverpool team giving a hefty trouncing,
The ground is almost full: really close to its capacity,
Will we see again Gareth Southgate’s well-known scoring tenacity?

After last week’s winning encounter we read mainly lots of tripe,
As the newspapers all went overboard with nothing more than hype,
So today we are still seeking that missing magical blend,
To bring this Boro/Liverpool game to a satisfactory end.

There came from the visitors’ Murphy a really bad mistake,
A chance now for Bodo Zenden, which the Dutchman failed to take,
Liverpool’s speedy counter sought to put us through the hoops,
Then we were saved by great defending, and we shouted “Well done, Coops.”

Some of Mendieta’s input was really quite delightful,
Then the subsequent play by colleagues was sometimes, frankly, frightful,
Until some breathtaking passing was seen from Boro’s own red tide,
Then Ricketts ran on too early and he was caught offside.

Mendieta’s fantastic ball, flew truly into the middle,
But no-one took a gamble and to me that was a riddle,
It really is quite puzzling and to me it begs the question,
Are we ever going to overcome this middle-of-the-field congestion?

Colin Cooper to the rescue, still playing as well as ever,
The way that ‘Mendi’ killed the ball was wonderfully clever,
An opportunity was created which the ‘wee man’ tried to force,
But Liverpool managed to clear their lines and we failed again, of course.

A free kick thirty yards out brings cheers from every Boro fan,
Alas, it didn’t quite go according to the manager’s pre-match plan,
The ball into the box was struck by Franck, with such great pace,
Awfully high it then flew, bringing pain to McClaren’s face.

Finnan had a mis-kick: how unlucky can we get?
That ball could very easily have entered the Liverpool net,
At least we got a corner kick, which Zenden chose to take,
But he didn’t clear the very first man, allowing Liverpool to break.

‘Mendi’ receives a great ball; runs in on goal and then,
Traore steals it from him and Brownlee’s screaming for a ‘pen,’
As our man’s winding up to shoot, he’s just that wee bit slow,
And the Liverpool man’s quite brilliant as he steals it off his toe.

One suddenly gets the feeling the tempo’s upped a notch,
Although we’ve seen no goals so far, the game’s not bad to watch,
Ten minutes left to half time and of goals we can still dream,
But, to-date, we’ve not seen a single shot on goal from either team.

Juninho’s running through on goal, showing tremendous pace,
But he fails to spot that Boateng’s free in ‘acres’ of open space,
The manager was left furious and I bet that he’d have cried,
If Heskey, breaking, had found the net, instead of shooting wide.

As Boateng in the next attack on Liverpool’s goal descended,
Gerrard got a bit of him and our man was upended,
French Franck lunged in on Gerrard, frustrated and not looking,
And referee Phil Dowd saw it so it ended in a booking.

With Juninho attacking, the Boro fans’ hopes are once more rising,
Then he’s brought to ground by Diouf, who pats his head; quite patronising!
Then some enterprising passing again brings Ricketts into play,
But once more there’s disappointment, following earlier promising play.

With added time now running and as the clock begins to tick,
A superb cross from Mendieta finds no-one waiting on ’t back stick.
It’s been a very cautious first half, with not a lot to cheer,
And, no doubt, when play resumes, we’ll have to step it up a gear.

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The interval’s now over and there’s no more time for talking,
So changes may be called for as this isn’t really working,
But Liverpool have their problems too: they’re changing one man now,
As Finnan goes off injured, to be replaced by Diao.

The second half so far’s scrappy, that really must be said,
Then a great run from Michael Owen, who left everyone for dead,
A terrific break from midfield and Harry Kewell sought the kill,
But great work from Boro’s ‘keeper kept the score-line at nil-nil.

Kewell was only six yards out when he made the choice to shoot,
And Schwarzer kept his goal intact with the outside of his boot,
That was brave and something special from the Aussie man: in fact,
He also thwarted Heskey who just failed to make contact.

Boro are now hanging on and that’s just not good enough,
They had a massive let-off from the head of Hadji-Diouf,
Kewell raced on down the left and sent in a dangerous Scud,
Thankfully it just shook the bar with one great resounding thud.

Liverpool’s ‘keeper, Kirkland’s not had to save a single shot,
Our attack’s just like the weather, and that’s certainly not too hot,
We need to show much more belief and roll up the proverbial sleeves,
The visitors can then be beaten, that’s what the Boro boss believes.

Owen’s taken off right now; he’s not shown much, on the whole,
To be replaced by a promising star whose name is Sinama-Pongolle,
His impact was seen immediately and the Liverpool fans all roared,
But he scooped it high from six yards’ out when he really should have scored.

Schwarzer failed to hold a cross and he managed just to parry it,
And Pongolle with his very first touch, somehow failed to bury it,
This led on to the Boro fans having one big collective titter,
When they saw this future Liverpool star had missed an absolute sitter.

Ricketts hasn’t done much so he leaves now: no offence,
Nemeth is the Boro’s new hope to unlock Liverpool’s defence,
Were he to score that vital goal we’d see some celebration,
Because our approach has been quite good, but with little penetration.

This has proved to be a difficult game and one that’s been hard-fought,
And with twenty minutes left to play, neither team has been outthought,
Juninho darts into the box, trying to set the game afire,
But a bit of ‘Mendi’ magic is what the Boro fans desire.

A massive round of loud applause for the best ball of the day,
Though Mendieta, sad to say, failed to keep the thing in play,
This ovation was Doriva’s, all for his vision of world class,
Who fired a ball some sixty yards; that certainly was some pass!

Great ball now from the ‘little man’ as Mendieta starts to tick,
His wonder-pass then found Zenden on the Liverpool back stick,
It had “goal” written all over it, just aching to be stuffed,
But Zenden, with his left peg, simply missed it; totally fluffed!

Pongolle was again involved when brought down by French Franck,
Everyone connected to the visitors thought the ref’s decision stank,
A penalty now seemed on the cards, to bring to us much grief,
But Mr. Dowd thought otherwise, much to the Boro’s relief.

Mildly put, the Liverpool lot, thought this decision rather curious,
And Gerard Houllier, their manager, was absolutely furious,
“A cast-iron penalty” he called it, that could not have clearer been,
But home boss, Steve McClaren, said it was something he’d not seen.

Juninho leads a Boro charge on the right side, three on three,
But the ‘wee man’ once more tripped and success was not to be,
Goalmouth thrills in this game today? We’ve certainly not had many,
If one chance could be made to count, it’d be worth every single penny.

Heskey’s bringing danger as a cross enters the box,
But ‘Fearless Franck,’ the Frenchman, gets in another of his blocks,
That last-ditch intervention means the score remains a blank,
All thanks are due, without a doubt, to Boro’s own French Franck.

Inside the Boro’s own ‘area,’ Bolo Zenden went a’ dribbling,
Although initially furious, Steve McClaren’s no longer quibbling,
For we finally got it clear as the final whistle approaches,
But I’m sure that Mr. Zenden will get ‘advice’ from Boro’s coaches.

Was it a super spectacle? No, that I wouldn’t say,
But the lads deserve some credit for another dour display,
But, not a single shot on target and altogether disjointed,
Despite another clean sheet, the fans go home disappointed.