FA Cup Sixth Round

Charlton 0 Middlesbro 0

A great display from our boys was in the end not enough to put us into the FA Cup Semi-final after 59 years of waiting. A performance full of desire and strength especially in the first half told of the teams eagerness to reach the last 4 and was a great improvement on recent displays. "They wanted it more" is a phase often used in football and it was clearly evident here who had the most desire to win. Unfortunately that desire was in the end not enough.

A positive and attacking team selection of 4-4-2 with no room for Rommedahl, Ambrose or Euell saw Darren B sharing the attacking with Bartlett and the two ran and worked hard all night without reward.

But it was the midfield trio of Kish, Holland and Hughes that impressd the most. They battled and harried the opposition and the midfield was the springboard for most of the good moves in the first half. Kish was strong, Holland ran his socks off and Hughes had his best game for a long while. They consequently had most of the procession and while there were mistakes it was all extremely positive. While Boro defended well we should have made more of our first half dominance with Schwarzer making two goods saves.

Mhyre had no saves to make that I can remember and the whole team deserved 10 out of 10 for effort.

Just a thought but maybe the players are as bored as some of the fans with mid-table nothingness. Its usual in the club that as soon as survival is confirmed the lights go out. On Thursday we saw players that had a will and desire to win - something we haven't seen for many a month. Evidently the possibility of actually winning something is important to them as well as us and the effort that that generated was obvious to everyone watching.

Perhaps finishing 10th or 15th in the Premier really doesn't generate the same interest as the possibility as a medal.