It was good to actually see the Boro playing after such a long lay off because of the weather conditions, expectations were high, especially with the return of Richard Medcalf, a real class player in my book, it was disappointing to see Joel Hartley left out of the team, he was not even named as a substitute, also Dave Kemp, but Dave was at least included on the bench.I sometimes wonder just what Joel has to do to keep his place in the team.
The game kicked off much as I had expected it would with Boro in charge and doing all the attacking, when half time finally arrived with Boro in a 2-0 lead the Hallam players must have wondered how the score was not more like 6 or 7 nil, such was Boro's dominance, but poor finishing, wasted chances and laziness in front of goal meant that Hallam were still in with a shout.
Richard Medcalf had scored Boro's first goal on 20 minutes thanks to a neat pass from striking partner Ryan Blott, chances galore fell Boro's way following their opener but it took until the 35th minute for goal number 2 to come and again it was 'Meddy' and once again Ryan Blott had a hand in the build up.
So 2-0 it was as the ref blew for half time, the standard of refereeing has not improved any since the last game, this one (Mr D Storrie) was so picky, loved to blow his whistle and lay down the law to the players but he seemed to have no real authority and I doubt any player took too much notice of his lectures.
Boro came out for the 2nd half and I as much as the rest of the crowd were looking forward to more goals from Boro, and they did come, but no one could have imagined how the game would later turn.
It only took Boro around 3 minutes to extend their lead and it was midfielder Gary Hepples who deservedly got the 3rd Boro goal, he works non stop and always gives 100% for the team, he was unlucky in the 1st half when he had an effort cleared off the Hallam goal-line.
10 minutes later 'Meddy' completed his hat trick and gave Boro a 4 goal cushion, still, in spite of being 4-0 up Boro were still squandering chances but surely the game was won, Hallam did somehow manage to grab a goal back in the 69th minute, completely against the run of play, but surely it was nothing more than a consolation goal,.the Boro management certainly thought so as they brought off first star man 'Meddy' followed 2 minutes later by Ryan Blott, the 2 players who had terrorised the Hallam defence from the start, they were replaced by Bill Law and Rob Northern.The other substitution saw Gary Hepples replaced by Graham Botham 10 minutes from time, I imagine this substitution was down to fitness as Gary was having an excellent game.
Now in a crazy period of the game when suddenly Hallam looked like scoring with every attack they could muster they had pulled another 2 goals back within 6 minutes of the Boro substitutions, with he score now 4-3 the Boro fans just wanted the game to end, but deep into injury time Hallam snatched their 4th goal of the game, pathetic defending and goalkeeping errors had thrown the game away, Hallam celebrated as if they had won the World cup, somehow we lost 2 points in a game which we could have won about 10-0, the Boro defence needs sorting out before next weeks presidents cup tie at Thackley and the more difficult journey to Farsley AFC in the league, this Hallam team were very ordinary, we were far better player for player and yet they staged a magnificent comeback to share the points, I have mentioned Jamie Waltham in many of my posts, but we have not been the same team in defence since Jamie and the club parted company, I would welcome Jamie back with open arms, I think most fans would also.
Pictured is hat trick hero Richard Medcalf.
BORO' SQUAD:
NICHOLSON.6
BELT.4
PRICE.4
INGRAM.5
GIBSON.3
LEISTER.5
HOTTE.8
DUNNING.6
BLOTT.8
MEDCALF.9
HEPPLES.8
SUB'S:
NORTHERN
LAW
BOTHAM
JENKINSON
KEMP
UP THE BORO.......................
The game kicked off much as I had expected it would with Boro in charge and doing all the attacking, when half time finally arrived with Boro in a 2-0 lead the Hallam players must have wondered how the score was not more like 6 or 7 nil, such was Boro's dominance, but poor finishing, wasted chances and laziness in front of goal meant that Hallam were still in with a shout.
Richard Medcalf had scored Boro's first goal on 20 minutes thanks to a neat pass from striking partner Ryan Blott, chances galore fell Boro's way following their opener but it took until the 35th minute for goal number 2 to come and again it was 'Meddy' and once again Ryan Blott had a hand in the build up.
So 2-0 it was as the ref blew for half time, the standard of refereeing has not improved any since the last game, this one (Mr D Storrie) was so picky, loved to blow his whistle and lay down the law to the players but he seemed to have no real authority and I doubt any player took too much notice of his lectures.
Boro came out for the 2nd half and I as much as the rest of the crowd were looking forward to more goals from Boro, and they did come, but no one could have imagined how the game would later turn.
It only took Boro around 3 minutes to extend their lead and it was midfielder Gary Hepples who deservedly got the 3rd Boro goal, he works non stop and always gives 100% for the team, he was unlucky in the 1st half when he had an effort cleared off the Hallam goal-line.
10 minutes later 'Meddy' completed his hat trick and gave Boro a 4 goal cushion, still, in spite of being 4-0 up Boro were still squandering chances but surely the game was won, Hallam did somehow manage to grab a goal back in the 69th minute, completely against the run of play, but surely it was nothing more than a consolation goal,.the Boro management certainly thought so as they brought off first star man 'Meddy' followed 2 minutes later by Ryan Blott, the 2 players who had terrorised the Hallam defence from the start, they were replaced by Bill Law and Rob Northern.The other substitution saw Gary Hepples replaced by Graham Botham 10 minutes from time, I imagine this substitution was down to fitness as Gary was having an excellent game.
Now in a crazy period of the game when suddenly Hallam looked like scoring with every attack they could muster they had pulled another 2 goals back within 6 minutes of the Boro substitutions, with he score now 4-3 the Boro fans just wanted the game to end, but deep into injury time Hallam snatched their 4th goal of the game, pathetic defending and goalkeeping errors had thrown the game away, Hallam celebrated as if they had won the World cup, somehow we lost 2 points in a game which we could have won about 10-0, the Boro defence needs sorting out before next weeks presidents cup tie at Thackley and the more difficult journey to Farsley AFC in the league, this Hallam team were very ordinary, we were far better player for player and yet they staged a magnificent comeback to share the points, I have mentioned Jamie Waltham in many of my posts, but we have not been the same team in defence since Jamie and the club parted company, I would welcome Jamie back with open arms, I think most fans would also.
Pictured is hat trick hero Richard Medcalf.
BORO' SQUAD:
NICHOLSON.6
BELT.4PRICE.4
INGRAM.5
GIBSON.3
LEISTER.5
HOTTE.8
DUNNING.6
BLOTT.8
MEDCALF.9
HEPPLES.8
SUB'S:
NORTHERN
LAW
BOTHAM
JENKINSON
KEMP
UP THE BORO.......................
