Middlesbrough 0 Charlton Athletic 1
Wow.
A breathtaking result and 3 points being brought 300 miles home tonight. Heroes on the pitch, and heroes in the stand.
I was unable to watch as I was on a plane and then was driving home from the airport. I think regularly checking the club feed when at a red light was a little less stressful than watching the game, but the result was the same, and beating a team of their quality that was a huge game for them as well on their own patch is a stunning result.
Kudos to the team, who played their hearts out once more for the shirt, and to Nathan Jones, who made some big team selections. The post match celebrations will stay long in the memories of those Addicks that made the long midweek journey.
I assume I wasn’t alone in raising both eyebrows at the starting XI. A different back three, Dykes and TC on the bench. The forward changes made sense, but Gough, Coady and Gillesphey looked a real dial down from Ramsey, Jones and Bell.
Yet Ramsey hadn’t trained all week, Jones was in desperate need of a rest and was one game away from avoiding a yellow and therefore a ban. Then if I had my way I would make Bell sleep in cotton wool every night.
However, from reports, young Gough was excellent, Coady showed every ounce of his professionalism, and scored the goal, and Gillesphey went to battle like we know he can. Clarke and Docherty were especially lauded.
The goal came from another long throw. Clarke directed it into the box, Dykes pulled his marker away, and Coady stuck his leg in front of the defender and toed it in.
There was still half hour left at that stage plus injury, but we produced a low block defensive masterclass with Mannion a huge safe pair of hands behind them.
Middlesbrough had 78% possession, 34 shots and 87 touches in our penalty box, which is a Championship record, yet it is the mighty Addicks who take the win.
🎙️ “They need their heads tested travelling up here on a Wednesday night! They were absolutely wonderful. I’m proud of the club and I’m proud of them. To follow us up here, I don’t think you can get any further north in this league, and to do it on a Wednesday with the games coming up is truly remarkable.”
⭐️ Harry Clarke
🏟️ 24,668 (450 Addicks)
📸 Getty Images
CA I am still buzzing! An amazing win against a top 2 side.
NJ has got a lot of criticism, sometimes it’s has been deserved but tonight he got it 100% right. We defended our centre areas very well , yes we rode our luck at times but we deserved that bit of luck from our performance. We were going go hit them on the break and a few times we ventured forward. One such break fell to Kelman who had to score!
I thought Gough did well, and midfield supported our centre half’s. Clarke was very good, and the back 3 were excellent, being well marshalled by Coady. . It was a smash and grab performance, but crucially another (unexpected) 3 points, and I don’t care how they come. A big shout for the away fans, to witness our performance was a real pleasure and for me is just behind the Ipswich away win.
Rolling down to Oxford on Saturday, never been a happy hunting ground recently, let’s hope we get a good result.
Happy that you were there mate. Good on you for going 🔴⚪️
Splendid win. Delighted for those that travelled. We must be the most inconsistent team in the Championship, winning at Boro looked most unlikely. Yet it happened.
Look back at previous performances, sometimes so poor and games we could could have won or drawn, were lost.
Safety is just a whisker away now.
A changed back line but what a tremendous performance from the addicks , almost there coyr
A masterclass by Nathan and coaches in how to tame Boro and nick a goal away….defending was brilliant and every player chased the ball and allowed Boro Limited chances.
Grit determination and skill got us a well deserved win and our chances of staying up increased.
When Coady scored I got so excited my mug of tea went everywhere 😃
Maybe after all Nathan IS “the messiah” 😃
To be a real Addick, it should’ve been a flask of tea, Cliff 😉
I spent 30.mins cleaning the carpet…what a waste of a cuppa 😃
🤣🤣
Wow indeed, due to my wife coming out of hospital totally forgot we were playing and against Middlesborough ,only when I looked at the nights results I saw the result, expletives of amazement used. Unbelievable. Nearly safe,
To give Keenan Gough only his second ever Championship start in an away match against a team second in the table and who needed the points could have rebounded on NJ and been a mistake of Antonin Kinsky proportions but for the hour he played he was superb. And that back three of Gough, Gillesphey and Coady had never played together either.
Every player deserves some praise – Doch and Coventry screened the defence expertly and Miles Leaburn was there to do a defensive shift when needed at corners and the Coady grabbed a goal that a striker would be proud of – timing his run and flicking it off the boot of the defender and having the nous to steer it away from the keeper.
While we’re not mathematically safe from relegation that was a big three points – we are in a position where safety is in our hands and we don’t have to rely on other teams screwing up.
Points on the board is the only thing that matters – for Boro and Charlton. We might not have had 34 shots or 87 touches in Boro’s box but we did score one goal and one goal was enough! Great team effort and the player’s are buying into NJ’s tactics. I prefer midweek games on a Wednesday!
The Messiah truly cometh !! MasterClass from start to finsh. 😁
As Middlesbrough is the nearest championship side to where we live now (North Yorkshire) Over the weekend I decided to buy a ticket and go on the spur of the moment. Not really expecting one point let alone three, my ticket was next to a guy and his son from Eltham. That is the first time this season that I have been able to get to a live game due to the distance away from me most clubs are. Everyone in the away enclosure spent 95 minutes in spine tingling nervous expectation……but in the end, a great result. Ha+ts of to the guys around me who did the 600mile round trip. My drive back over the Moors was a very happy one.
That’s fantastic Greg. COYR
Wow indeed CA and Cliff like i said he s not the messiah he s just a very naughty boy, on a serious note the lads played exceptional I couldn’t watch the game because we had tickets yo watch norwich city v Sheffield United as my son wanted to go. I did however see the game when I got home and thought how on earth we kept a clean sheet but we did that’s 3 clean sheets in a row surely we can start dreaming soon cant we. I think we must keep mannion in as well also we’ll done Coady on your first goal for us lets keep this up. COYR