Road to Wembley, then Train to Cardiff

Of course I can't possibly support Middlesbrough in their quest of being N&R's Road to Wembley team. And anyway, it's now in Cardiff as Wembley's still resembles a building site, so whose stupid idea was this anyway?

Here is my report from the Boro game, taken from www.chicagoaddick.blogspot.com.

"We couldn't have asked for much more really, could we? Except the little issue of a goal of course. I thought we were positive enough, the team selection didn't surprise me, saving either one of Thomas or Romm for later in the game isn't a bad idea. We lacked a little quality but I thought Hughes and Holland did well in the middle and Thomas was very lively and was always looking to be involved.

HH, Perry and Powell were awesome, Young struggled a little with Downing but still played his part. For their part both Southgate and Ehiogu were outstanding, bandage and all after getting an accidental elbow from Bartlett, who I also thought played well.

It was an enjoyable game and on television the atmosphere sounded excellent. Lets hope we can get a fair few to make the journey up to the Riverside.

For a spell in the first half we played some very good attacking football. Schwarzer made a fabulous save from the Herminator (above) and maybe Bent should have done better but the slow motion of Rommedahl's 2nd half shot showed that the Dane was a whisker away from being our hero again.

So we're in tomorrow's draw and lets face it, we do like to do things the hard way. Boro' have a serious run of games including two legs of the UEFA Cup quarter-finals and a derby against Newcastle leading up to the replay on April 12th. We should be fresher because as far as we travel from now until then is E13.

For the first time today I was joined in the pub by a fellow Addick. I had my Chicago Addick supporters club form out for him to sign (for a small admin fee of course) until he told me he actually lived in Charlton and was here for work. Damn.

I go to bed tonight knowing we will live to fight another day. I will be home for the replay but already have plans to be with my son on the 12th. Oh well, it will all be part of his Charlton education."

Boro Team: Schwarzer, Parnaby, Ehiogu, Southgate, Queudrue, Cattermole, Boateng, Mendieta (Morrison 64), Downing, Hasselbaink, Yakubu (Viduka 68).
Subs Not Used: Jones, Rochemback, Pogatetz.
MoM: Gareth Southgate
Att: 24,187

The replay is on April 12th with the winner playing West Ham at Villa Park.