Best friends may become best of enemies for 90 minutes when Boro take on Cardiff City.
For while the proud Boro mascot is eight-year-old Ben Richmond, leading out Cardiff will be his best mate Tom Schuchardt and his brother Daniel.
All three were travelling up today from South Wales for tomorrow night’s big match after receiving their mascot experience as Christmas gifts.
And while Ben’s dad Mark hopes they both have a great night, he, like his son, is hoping Boro bag the three points.
Mark is originally from Acklam but moved to Cardiff for work 12 years ago.
And he says Ben is a keen Boro fan, despite having been born and bred in the Welsh capital.
He explained: “He’s very proud to support Boro. He’s been to the Riverside about 10 times and we rack up plenty of away games.”
And while they’re in opposite camps tomorrow night, Mark says Ben and Tom, seven, are otherwise “the best of pals.”
He said: “They’re best friends at school, they play for the same Saturday morning team and they are even both having trials for Swansea City soon.”
Former Acklam Grange pupil Mark, 41, who is now MD of a logistics business, added: “Until about a month ago, Ben was one of two Boro fans in the same class, but the other one has moved to Bournemouth now.
Also, he took a bit of stick last year when Cardiff were in the top flight, but I reminded him they’d only been there once in 51 years!”
Ben’s favourite current players are Dimi Konstantopoulos, Kike, Patrick Bamford and skipper Grant Leadbitter - but he’s aware of the club’s recent history too.
Mark smiled: “He’s bought into the cult of Juninho. He asks me if he was better than the likes of Ronaldo and Messi and, of course, the answer is ‘yes’!”
In the crowd to watch Ben walk out at The Riverside will be family and friends, including Mark’s mum Helen. And while Mark’s dad Derek sadly died when Ben was one, he’ll be there in spirit.
Mark said: “He’s the one who got me into it, so he’d have been so proud.
"But we’ll all be proud - it’s something I never managed to do and it’s carrying on the family Boro tradition.
“It should be a good match and Ben’s predicting a 2-1 win, so I hope he’s right.”
Get the match build-up and live blog on our BoroLive page
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