At the time of writing (Tuesday evening) Boro are yet to face off against Mark Robins’ no doubt well drilled and meticulously organized Stoke City side away at the Bet365 and with both Ipswich Town and Coventry City beating Millwall and Bristol City respectively, we would have started Wednesday evening’s fixture down in third place.
Here's hoping that we managed to grab all three points (at best) or a point against Stoke City prior to this afternoon’s early lunchtime kick-off against Paul Heckingbottom’s Preston North End here at the Riverside.
I believe now is the right moment to take stock and reflect on what has been, by many Boro supporters' expectations, a brilliant season to date. The momentum that Rob Edwards, Harry Watling and Adi Viveash built in achieving our best ever start to a domestic league season has been steadily maintained. I think it's fair to say. Despite the huge lack of respect Rob and his staff showed Steve Gibson and the club's fan base when he made the move to Wolverhampton Wanderers, they did leave the club in an enviable position in the EFL Championship. Kim Hellberg, David Selini, Adi Viveash and Anes Mravac have done an incredible job of building on our excellent start and the fact that at this point in the season, we're more focused on looking up rather than down is immensely satisfying.
Yet despite our league position, the margins in this league remain incredibly tight with just nine points between third and twelfth place. Other teams around us are continuing to pick up points when it matters most and with Ipswich Town having won eight of their last ten fixtures, it's vital that we too continue to put points on the board, especially here at the Riverside Stadium.
I believe as fans we need to do all we can to make sure the Riverside is an intimidating, hostile place for opposition teams to come and play. We need all fans to be the twelfth man to get the players over the line - whether that be with scarfs, flags, whatever. We do need to increase the volume across the stands and I'm hopeful that we can do so as these players are trying desperately to achieve something special this season.
We all know how opposition teams will come here and try (successfully) to frustrate us by sitting in deep, let us dominate possession of the ball and then look to hit us on the counter.
Preston North End arrive here on the back of a devastating 3-0 home defeat to Hull City - they will want to put that right here this afternoon and get their push for a play-off spot back on track. We will have to work hard against a side that Paul Heckingbottom has built to be resolute but I'm confident that we can get the job done today.
Come on Boro!
Iain Bentley
