Smoggies away Sat 20th March predictions.

[leww_rfc]

H L 0-3 Blackpool (bit of a thumping)
H L 0-1 Cardiff City (another defeat, but decent away side)
H W 3-0 Scunthorpe (Scunny are poor)
H D 1-1 Swansea City (decent result)
H D 0-0 Bristol City (Bristol on a bad run)
H W 2-1 Barnsley (decent result)
H W 1-0 Peterborough (Nuff said)
H W 2-0 QPR (When QPR were still in free-fall)
H D 2-2 Newcastle (decent result)

P9 W4 D3 L2 11-8 15 Points

So their last 9 at home have been nothing special, but they have managed the points.

What about their last seven at home?

?

[under the tin]

2-1 Reading
Kebe
Mills (it is pre ordained)

Oh, and Mills will throw his shirt into the travelling Royals at the end of the game

[leww_rfc]

H L 0-3 Blackpool (bit of a thumping)
H L 0-1 Cardiff City (another defeat, but decent away side)
H W 3-0 Scunthorpe (Scunny are poor)
H D 1-1 Swansea City (decent result)
H D 0-0 Bristol City (Bristol on a bad run)
H W 2-1 Barnsley (decent result)
H W 1-0 Peterborough (Nuff said)
H W 2-0 QPR (When QPR were still in free-fall)
H D 2-2 Newcastle (decent result)

P9 W4 D3 L2 11-8 15 Points

So their last 9 at home have been nothing special, but they have managed the points.

What about their last seven at home?

?

Nevermind, I see what you mean

[brendywendy]

1-1

long

[Big McC]

I'm going for 2-2. Long and Sigurdsson for us. Lita at least 1 for Boro.

[Arch]

Nevermind, I see what you mean

Phew! I really didn't want to have to explain that.

[jgriowa]

Another dodgy penalty will give us the win. The Sig pounds the pen home after Long falls over shouting 'This one's for Snowball!'.

[Snowball]

H L 0-3 Blackpool (bit of a thumping)
H L 0-1 Cardiff City (another defeat, but decent away side)
H W 3-0 Scunthorpe (Scunny are poor)
H D 1-1 Swansea City (decent result)
H D 0-0 Bristol City (Bristol on a bad run)
H W 2-1 Barnsley (decent result)
H W 1-0 Peterborough (Nuff said)
H W 2-0 QPR (When QPR were still in free-fall)
H D 2-2 Newcastle (decent result)

P9 W4 D3 L2 11-8 15 Points

So their last 9 at home have been nothing special, but they have managed the points.

What about their last seven at home?

Let me help you...

H W 3-0 Scunthorpe (Scunny are poor)
H D 1-1 Swansea City (decent result)
H D 0-0 Bristol City (Bristol on a bad run)
H W 2-1 Barnsley (decent result)
H W 1-0 Peterborough (Nuff said)
H W 2-0 QPR (When QPR were still in free-fall)
H D 2-2 Newcastle (decent result)

[Snowball]

Let me help you...

H W 3-0 Scunthorpe (Scunny are poor)
H D 1-1 Swansea City (decent result)
H D 0-0 Bristol City (Bristol on a bad run)
H W 2-1 Barnsley (decent result)
H W 1-0 Peterborough (Nuff said)
H W 2-0 QPR (When QPR were still in free-fall)
H D 2-2 Newcastle (decent result)

Point is, they aren't exactly ripping up trees, even if you say W4 D3

This is what the boro site says

The Form Book

Reading have won eight of their last nine games, although they have had five successive home matches.

Of their last four away games in all competitions, Reading have chalked up three wins, including two in the league.

Boro are seven games unbeaten at the Riverside, a run that spans three months.

But Gordon Strachan's men have won just one of their last six, picking up five points from a possible 18.

In eight all-time league meetings on Teesside, Boro have won three and Reading two, leaving three draws. On each occasion the Royals have recorded victory, the scoreline was 1-0.

[Platypuss]

The Championship Betting: In-form Reading set for a tough afternoon at the Riverside
Championship / Andrew French / 18 March 2010

Gordon Strachan has brought in many new faces since he arrived at Middlesbrough, but his club still sit some way of the pace in their quest to reach the play-offs

Despite winning four on the bounce, Reading will struggle to get anything from their visit to Middlesbrough says Andrew French. Our man also expects Nottingham Forest to maintain their promotion push and Blackpool to win again.

Reading may be top of the Championship's current form table, but scratch below the surface of the statistics and you'll find good reason to back Middlesbrough to beat them this weekend.

The Royals have won four consecutive league games as new manager Brain McDermott charts a path to safety away from what had threatened to be a relegation battle. You can't knock four wins - but all four have been at home, and all of them came against sides below Reading in the table. The last time they played a league game away from the Madejski was the last time they lost - 2-0 at Blackpool in late February.

Middlesbrough's attempts to get back to the Premier League have fallen way behind those of neighbours Newcastle - new boss Gordon Strachan has rung the changes but they still sit some way short of the play-off places. But their recent home form is strong - unbeaten in seven with three wins in their last four. Therefore, I think Boro are the best bet of the weekend at 2.18.

http://betting.betfair.com/football/championship/the-championship-betting-in-form-reading-set-for-a-tough-a-180310.html

[themadstad]

Tomorrow we will lose to Middlesbrough, 2-0.

This will reduce all the talks of the play offs.

Looking at our away form it isn't brilliant. We've beaten Crystal Palace and Doncaster but lost to Nottingham Forest, Sheffield United and Blackpool. Middlesbrough are a team in the play off hunt as are the teams we lost to. We failed to score in two of those games and conceded in all of them.

[Rex]

Possibly, but there are too many variables in football to just state a lack of a clean sheet, away form and opposition to admit or declare defeat.
That's why we still attend matches and a win is all the more sweeter.

[The whole year inn]

2-1 Home win

[Jackson Corner]

2-1 Boro

[Snowball]

Tomorrow we will lose to Middlesbrough, 2-0.

This will reduce all the talks of the play offs.

Looking at our away form it isn't brilliant. We've beaten Crystal Palace and Doncaster but lost to Nottingham Forest, Sheffield United and Blackpool. Middlesbrough are a team in the play off hunt as are the teams we lost to. We failed to score in two of those games and conceded in all of them.

YES but we played Palace off the park, Donny off the park
and at Forest we ran the second half and deserved at least a point.

Sheffield was a peculiar game. Check the stats, we had more shots on target than they did.

Only at Blackpool did we fail to turn up.

The other thing we have to factor in is that, despite the run overall,
when we went to those places we were still in the bottom 2-3-4

NOW we are not, have a string of good wins and loads of confidence


Not forgetting wins at Anfield and WBA...

[fozziebear]

Going for a win today,boro got a few injuries and suspensions. 3- 0 Sig and church, raziak
http://www.fansonline.net/middlesbrough ... hp?id=1596

[Snowball]

The Scottish international is now a minor Boro scoring sensation cutting inside from the right onto the trusty left peg.



SOMEONE TELL BERTIE

[themadstad]

Tomorrow we will lose to Middlesbrough, 2-0.

This will reduce all the talks of the play offs.

Looking at our away form it isn't brilliant. We've beaten Crystal Palace and Doncaster but lost to Nottingham Forest, Sheffield United and Blackpool. Middlesbrough are a team in the play off hunt as are the teams we lost to. We failed to score in two of those games and conceded in all of them.

YES but we played Palace off the park, Donny off the park
and at Forest we ran the second half and deserved at least a point.

Sheffield was a peculiar game. Check the stats, we had more shots on target than they did.

Only at Blackpool did we fail to turn up.

The other thing we have to factor in is that, despite the run overall,
when we went to those places we were still in the bottom 2-3-4

NOW we are not, have a string of good wins and loads of confidence


Not forgetting wins at Anfield and WBA...

Yeah, I remember checking the stats for Sheff Utd game and we had the better of shots and the ball. Still lost 3-0, this was after the Anfield win.

I'm still going with a Middlesbrough win at 2-0.

[Horsham Royal]

1-0 Boro (McDonald).

[LoyalRoyalFan]

This is from them Middlesbrough website.

Despite their form, Brian McDermott's side were booed by some supporters during their midweek game, but Strachan says that's a common feature of the modern game and it would be wrong to read too much into it.

I didn't hear any booing.

Another interesting quote from Strachan

I saw them beaten 4-1 at QPR early on in the season but they played well that day