Sport Promotion is the aim to make it a very happy new year

T

he undeniable quality of the Championship so far this season has been demonstrated a number of times with ‘Boro’s resounding Capital Cup victory over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light and the narrow defeat by an own goal against another Premiership side Swansea at their own Liberty Stadium just two of the best examples. Our Christmas schedule included games against two teams that graced last season’s Premiership (Wolves and Blackburn) and a third – Blackpool - who had a great season up there the year before, and these were fixtures that could have really upset Boro’s challenge. It speaks volumes that following the results of those four games we are still in with a great chance of at least the play-offs after such a rigorous schedule. The rest of this month features games against teams who could also be our main rivals for those vital promotion spots and the results against Watford (a), Leicester (a) and Leeds (h) will obviously have a huge bearing on our final position. If we continue to perform as well as we have against similarly high quality teams and confirm our position as promotion contenders by the end of the month then ‘Boro fans must once more congratulate Tony Mowbray on a superb job. The way he has managed to slash the club’s wage bill by half while increasing the depth and strength of the squad with very little financial outlay should be considered a marvellous achievement. But creating an PAGE 28 | Local Answer - Issue 34

exciting brand of football that has been great to watch for much of the season should also be applauded. With so much upheaval in the personnel it is perhaps inevitable that results like the home defeat against Bristol City would emerge but the good has far outweighed the bad, even including the defeat at Cardiff in which we were far superior in every department except luck! There’s still a long way to go, of course, but I somehow can’t see the slump that happened last year being repeated this time around. The undoubted depth of quality and experience throughout the squad will see to that. Improved attendances – albeit from very generous offers from the club have obviously contributed to the home performances and it would be wonderful to see the crowds continue to support the team through a difficult run up to the end of the season. Let’s hope it all comes good and that we’ll be talking about Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool next season instead of Bristol City, Barnsley and Peterborough. I have to admit to considerable confidence in that direction. In the meantime can we take this opportunity to wish all you ‘Boro fans the very best for 2013 and don’t forget to log onto our website for updated ‘Boro commentary after each game.