United Barely Weathers Boro's Icy Blast

Middlesbrough 2 - Manchester United 2
Scorers
Middlesbrough: Alves (35, 55)
Manchester United: Ronaldo (10), Rooney (74)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio (Pique 67), Brown, O'Shea (Hargeaves 65), Evra, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Ronaldo, Tevez (Park 63), Rooney

Strange and painful game to watch. Even more painful to write about.

We started well and got into the lead early in the game with yet another Ronaldo goal. He just can't stop scoring. From a corner, the ball bounced about and reached Carrick on the left. His pass found Ronaldo unmarked and he swept it into goal in the opening 10 minutes.

We had controlled the game and our passing, credit to both Scholes and Carrick, was some of the best we've seen all season. Kentona and I were confident it was just a matter of time before it yielded a second. Boro, to be fair were chasing shadows.

Yet despite our dominance in midfield in the opening half hour, whenever Boro had the ball, they looked dangerous. Maybe it was the absence of Vidic. Everytime Boro came forward, they were able to create a good enough chance to score.

It was no surprise that they did with Alves opening his account on the 35th minute. A long punt found him in no man's land, with only Van der Sar to beat. The goal shattered our confidence and in the falling snow, our nerves froze. At the same time, it lit a fire up the opponents' asses.

They came at us strong and hard, and our midfield found it hard to contain the rampant Boro surges. The half time break did little to quell their desire. They were faster to the ball and more robust in their challenges.

10 minutes after the break, Boro got their second. A lucky recochet allowed Alves in and he needed no invitation to add his second for the game. We were well and truely rocked. Boro were the better team by far and value for their lead.

Fergie made 3 quick substitutions, bringing on Park, Hargeaves and Pique for Tevez, O'Shea and Rio, who limped off. It proved to be a master stroke as Park flew down the right flank and delivered a tantalising pass for Rooney to equalise.

Having drawn level, United poked and pried, trying to find a weakness in the Boro defence, knowing that a draw would open the door to Chelsea who are lurking uncomfortably close. On the other side, Alves was proving to be a handful for a defence that had neither Vidic nor Rio.

In the dying minutes, Boro could very well have found the winner, but Van der sar came to the rescue, saving from Tuncay. The game ended all square, but could very well have been very different.

It was a hard match, which we barely survived by the skin of our teeth. More worrying, despite the drop of 2 points, is that our injury problem could be growing. Rio limped off and Evra was the subject to some horrible tackling. How he walked off the pitch at full time is a mystery to me.

We're going to face Roma in the return leg of the Champions League on Wednesday, which should prove to be a mere fomality, but if we miss Rio and Evra, it might give Roma a glimmer of hope. And we don't want that.

Couple of game notes:

- Scholes and Carrick played well in the first half hour, but when Boro were revitalised by the first goal, just seemed to lack the steel and nerve. I thought having Anderson in the game would provide that steel.

- Giggs and Tevez were totally anonymous. This is probably the worst I've seen Tevez play....ever. Maybe it was the snow. He just didn't seem comfortable in the game. Giggs was simply terrible. It's painful to watch him struggle so badly in the game.

- The defence worries the hell outta me. We've already lost Vidic to injury, and a likely chance to lose Rio as well. With only 5 games left in the league, let's hope it holds up.