As we await the referee’s whistle it was clearly noticed that,
The captain went to Maccarone and gave his head a pat,
Trying to support him and seek more clinical attacking,
And perhaps to score a goal or two to send the visitors packing.

But this one won’t be easy, as everybody knows,
As the game gets underway and the expectation grows,
The afternoon’s a grey one, but not at all unpleasant,
And both teams will be seeking to have an early Christmas present.

A cushioned header by ‘Macca,’ sensing Zenden to his rear,
The ball deflected for a corner, as Charlton got it clear,
In then came the corner and the crowd, in unison, howled,
When the ‘keeper fell on to the turf and claimed that he’d been fouled.

Jenson then fed Euell, who was well inside the box,
And he then lost out to Southgate with another of his fine blocks,
He really saved the day for his side and thereby earned his wages,
As the Boro defence was almost breached for the very first time in ages.

Di Canio theatrically went down, as if he had been axed,
Bringing boos from Boro fans, whose patience is being taxed,
He really overdid it, though he might well have been caught,
That’s a free kick for the visitors, which Di Canio has bought.

The skirmishes that we’ve seen so far have had very little meaning,
Then comes a very quick counter, by Mendieta and Greening,
Both of them did awfully well, then came the usual frown,
A defender once more intervened and everything broke down.

Boateng latches on to the deftest of Greening’s flicks,
Was this an opportunity to knock the visitors for six?
The midfield gap grew wider and, boy, how he did run!
Only to waste the opportunity when “you should have passed it, son.”

Mendi has seen Nemeth towards the goalmouth darting,
But once again the Boro bench just sat there, truly smarting,
When the brilliant ball from Nemeth at the feet of ‘Macca’ lands,
And instead of finding ‘Mendi,’ he shot into the ‘keeper’s hands.

Mills then goes a’ charging and warms the Boro fans’ blood,
But his final effort’s off-target; it really wasn’t very good,
Parker and Danny Mills are seen now, standing head-to-head,
And the ref. then quickly calms things down when a few strong words were said.

Inside the Addicks’ area comes ‘Macca’ right-hand-side,
Then a little ball to Zenden, the Italian did slide,
‘Macca’ got the ball back and let go a real eye-popper,
Only to see it rebound off the chest of Charlton’s stopper.

Maccarone hits a post now as the game begins to bubble,
For the first time in the game, the visitors seem to be in trouble,
Despite the fact he missed it, the man had really tried,
But it mattered not a bit at all as the linesman flagged offside.

A Di Canio/Mills ‘collision’ left the former losing blood,
After having put his face in the way of Danny Mills’ stud,
Despite more boos for Paulo, who, so far, has not starred,
Mills was, perhaps, quite fortunate, to escape another card.

A Middlesbrough free kick, from well inside the ‘D,’
Was saved by ‘keeper, Keily, though I’m sure he didn’t see,
‘Mendi’ chose to go for power and he managed to beat the wall,
But the ball went for a corner: will the visitors’ goal now fall?

“No, “ was the instant answer, despite lots of Boro pressure,
It’s proving ‘most impossible for us a goal to treasure,
At last it does appear that there’s to be a purple patch,
But it simply isn’t paying off; well, so far in this match.

Greening beats the back three times then when the pass is ‘on’ he,
Picks out colleague Boateng but he finished like rugby’s ‘Jonny,’
He didn’t connect at all well and the thing just went awry,
The result wasn’t all that handsome but it certainly was high.

So, just two shots on target and no feelings of elation,
In fact, for all the loyal fans, there’s nothing but frustration,
Inside the Charlton armour there would appear to be some chinks,
But we’ll need to play much better to find them, at least that's what methinks.

----------

The players are now back out again; they’ve had their cup of tea,
I’m sure that Charlton can play better but the question is, “Can we?”
This ‘spectacle’ is being watched by 27000 hardy souls,
The whistle blows; we’re under way; please let us have some goals.

Nemeth and Bolo Zenden are now showing promising signs,
Then came Parker to the rescue as he somehow cleared his lines,
Jason Euell and Riggott collided and our man caught one on the bonce,
And sportingly Scott Parker kicked the ball from play at once.

Mendieta’s looking really tired now and more than a little jaded,
Perhaps he’s done too much to date and subsequently faded,
Frustration’s growing among the crowd; they’re certainly not happy,
Too many balls are going astray and play’s simply far too scrappy.

Three Boro players then did have a rare game of heading tennis,
Although it led to a shot at goal, it carried no real menace,
Zenden struck a good shot, from all of thirty yards,
Well wide of the mark it then flew; a goal was never on the cards.

Maccarone finds the by-line and gets in a decent cross,
Came the ‘keeper into action, to show him he’s the boss,
He hasn’t had a lot to do; the Addicks’ ‘keeper, Keily,
But enough to prove to one and all why he’s thought of quite so highly.

Boro are in real danger and Charlton’s menace they now feel,
We’re playing like the away side and it’s totally unreal,
And it also seems to me – something I don’t like to mention –
That McClaren and his sidekicks now also feel the tension.

Mendieta cut a dream ball back, right in the path of Bolo,
Who chose to side-foot without power and left us feeling so low,
The ball just rolled to Keily; the weight was not enough,
It appears now – I have to say – that we are running out of puff.

Charlton finally managed to find the target for the very first time,
The top-drawer save by Schwarzer was simply so sublime,
Parker struck a rocket so sweetly with his right,
But for Schwarzer’s wonder-save, for the Boro that was “goodnight.”

Our ‘keeper just gets better; something like Australian wine,
Once more to Boro’s rescue as he saves one on the line,
Sets up a Boro counter as Nemeth somehow stole it,
Then ‘Macca’ who received from him failed hopelessly to control it.

Loud booing once more from the fans, showing great derision,
Looking all towards the Boro bench, awaiting a decision,
The chance of Maccarone playing on are looking very slim,
For his body language seems to show that it’s finally got to him.

Ricketts is brought on to the field with ‘Macca’ making way,
He’d certainly be a hero if he could score a goal today,
His first involvement showed us what we’ve not seen hitherto,
When great play by the big man proved to all what he can do.

To the visiting defenders he displayed a good clean pair of heels,
And that is not the only thing that Michael now reveals,
He zooms in on the Charlton goal like a real old-fashioned winger,
Then Keily saved his shot on goal: it was a real hand-stinger.

With time fast running out and the Boro fans still frowning,
The local boy’s brought into play; his name is Stewart Downing,
Greening is the man to go, to sounds of huge applause,
But, brother, you ain’t heard nothing yet, if Stewart Downing scores.

He’s been on loan to Sunderland and managed to score three,
His tail is certainly right up and that’s really great to see,
Great expectations in the buzzing crowd; just view the panorama,
The team’s being willed on noisily; will we see some late, late drama?

Sadly, it was not to be, as we just stammer and stutter,
Then, in time added by the referee, Downing flashed in a daisy-cutter,
Real wing-play from the youngster left the Charlton men for dead,
And once more we had stalemate but no drama. Enough said!

Seven successive clean sheets gives cause to celebrate,
But five games without scoring is anything but great,
So, credit to all responsible for being as solid as a rock,
But one wonders if, at ‘t other end, there’s some kind of mental block.

The lengthy booing says it all and the Boro fans aren’t daft,
As once more they’d seen no ideas and also not much craft,
Some of the players would now appear to be running on empty tanks,
How much longer will we stand for them constantly firing blanks?