Nerves are starting to show as the cut-throat Championship chase comes to a climax. And not just on the pitch.
Boro beat Rotherham. It wasn’t a classic and it didn’t have intensity on the pitch or in the stands that reflected the high stakes - but it was three more precious points and kept Boro firmly in the promotion mix.
The routine victory was Boro’s 10th in 11 games at the Riverside.
It kept Boro in fourth spot and just two points off an automatic place and with four games to go we have their best chance since relegation of returning to the Promised Land.
So why was the aftermath marked by heated exchanges over outbreaks of booing? And why boo at all?
The fevered post-mortem centred on the half-time jeering of a team that had dominated - and the surreal situation of the top scorer being barracked by fans after a stoppage time spot-kick spat with a team-mate.
The bitter banter between fans justifying and others condemning the booing shows not just a fundamental difference over a time-honoured terrace tradition but also the fear and nerves bubbling through stress fractures in our collective psyche.
The pre-match mood music may have been set by Aitor Karanaka ’s cutting comments on the lack of atmosphere but it seemed plenty were ready to prove him right by joining in the chorus,
The game itself “wasn’t one for the purists” but it wasn’t terrible.
Boro bossed the first half without grabbing it by the throat although they did have two efforts cleared off the line and lively Albert Adomah brought two good saves.
It was typical Championship fare with one good side on top but being held at bay by a lesser hard-working one.
Boro players celebrate against Rotherham
We’ve seen it a dozen times this season… yet incredibly they were booed off by sections of the fans - not for losing or playing badly but for not winning with ease.
Now, some of it may have been an sarcastic verbal flicking of the Vs towards Aitor for his comments or ironic self-deprecating humour. We’ve all done it.
Some of it may have been more conscious, with politically motivated malcontents pointedly exercising their birthright, defying the gaffer and reserving the right to public dissent.
Some of it may have just been Pavlovian jeering at the 0-0 scoreline, divorced from the dynamics of the game.
And some must have been the end-of-term tension getting to emotionally fragile fans.
Whatever, it was a strange brew well out of sync with the game and the fine balance of a season of possibility.
And it did seem to validate Karanka’s claim that visits to rivals have been played out against a far more strident and supportive soundtrack.
The second half wasn’t too different in style or shape but Lee Tomlin got a nerve-easing opener and the Riverside relaxed. Real chants broke out.
There was an upsurge of optimism. Aitor was requested to and gave us a wave. Patrick Bamford slotted home a second to seal it and to equal Fabrizio Ravanelli’s 16 league goals for the season, a Riverside record.
Bamford has grown into the campaign with a calm assurance and an increasingly impressive strike rate – 18 in 39 games and six in the last eight as the season comes to the boil.
He is Boro’s most potent player, the club’s key transfer target for the summer and is crucial to the final fixture flurry.
Who’d have thought he’d have ended the game being booed by sections of the North Stand as the aura of negativity identified by the boss took a surreal turn?
Bamford was jeered for being the designated penalty taker. When Kike was bundled over, Bamford raced to the spot waiting to take the kick while the Spanish striker stamped his feet petulantly demanding he was given it.
Senior pro and level head Dean Whitehead intervened in the embarrassing squabble and insisted Bamford had the job although Kike appeared to still be chuntering as the kicker took his run-up.
Kike in action against Rotherham
Incredibly as Bamford prepared to take the kick, some misguided loyalists were clearly chanting Kike’s name – distracting at best, overtly counter-productive at worst – and continued to do so, and some even booed Bamford after his effort was saved.
Again, there were a lot of complex post-match justifications for the outburst: The fans thought Kike had “earned it”, or needed a goal to boost his morale, or that he was “our player” while Bamford was a loanee, or looked disinterested.
And of course, as he then missed, some claimed they were retrospectively vindicated.
Some blamed Bamford for doing his job and not stepping aside.
But if there’s one thing we know about Karanka it is that he prepares meticulously for every possible game scenario: Kike will have be acutely aware that Bamford was the designated kicker - “my name was on the board,” he said later - so his action was selfish public dissent and indiscipline that may well have contributed to the missing of what could prove a crucial goal.
For this one reason Aitor will not be happy.
The conspiracists will have a field day looking for imagined dark nuance in the spat but the pair made up with a man hug in the warm-down.
It’s forgotten now. They are totally focused on the Wolves game.
We all should be, We are still in the title chase after all.
Boro did what they had to do against Rotherham on a weekend when all the teams above us won – although none in particularly polished style.
The summit squeeze is as tight as ever. We are still in the mix. It is still all to play for.
We may need to win all four - a victory at Norwich will mean a little wriggle room - but there will be more twists and turns along the way.
In a crazy division like this is seems unlikely all the teams at the top will go through without dropping points.
Somewhere gaps will appear above us and we will need to take advantage.
To do that the team must keep on battling in every game and remain ambitious and united.
And fans must too. We will need to keep our nerve and keep urging the team on. There are four games left.
We can do this. Keep the faith.
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