Hillsborough is one of those grounds which has a habit of kicking you when you are down.
All the more reason to celebrate the fact that Boro are more or less on an upward curve.
Frustrated Boro fans over a couple of generations have learned that the team will get nothing at Sheffield Wednesday if it runs out lacking moral fibre.
Boro have suffered some consequential defeats at Hillsborough and been relegated there more than once.
Definitely not normally a happy hunting ground for the Boro.
However, Boro can draw strength from the rare successes they have gained on Wednesday’s home soil when they have played well.
Their last victory there was in the Championship in 2009, when Jeremie Aliadiere and Adam Johnson were among the scorers in a 3-1 victory.
Boro’s worst results at Hillsborough tend to come in end of season games, though Lennie Lawrence’s side upset the apple-cart in the inaugural Premier League campaign in 1993 when they beat the Owls 3-2 in early May.
The victory wasn’t enough to keep Boro in the top flight.
In fact they were as good as relegated before the kick-off. However, a win at Hillsborough is a win.
Lennie selected this game to hand a league debut to Stockton-born goalkeeper Andy Collett, who had come up through the club’s youth ranks and fully deserved his opportunity.
Collett was only 19 at the time and was facing an experienced Wednesday attack which included the likes of David Hirst, Mark Bright and Paul Warhurst.
As I recall, Collett made several superb reaction saves throughout the game, and played a massive part in Boro retrieving a bit of pride from the day despite knowing they were going down.
Andy made his second Premier League appearance the following weekend when Boro entertained Norwich City in their final game of the campaign.
This was a remarkable end-to-end game which ended 3-3, and for Collett it was to be his final Boro appearance.
At the end of the following season he moved on to Bristol Rovers and enjoyed five seasons there, before coming back to the North-east and spending another five at Darlington.
There is a story on Google which I can’t confirm, which claims that Collett was very close to winning an England squad place for a friendly international against Belgium which took place at Sunderland in 1999.
The story claims: “During a goalkeeping injury crisis, the then England manager Kevin Keegan seriously considered selecting Collett, who had impressed an England coach with a penalty save during a Third Division game against Hartlepool a week earlier.
“However Collett’s dream was ended when Nigel Martyn declared himself fit enough to provide back-up for David Seaman.”
Collett has since made a name for himself as a goalkeeping coach, notably at Darlington, Oldham Athletic and York City.
No doubt, like most players, Collett will never forget his league debut, especially as it came in the Premier League.
His saves at Hillsborough proved vital as Boro raced into a three-goal lead.
They went ahead mid-way through the first half thanks to a goal from midfielder Willie Falconer who, like Collett, did not play again for Boro following the finale against Norwich.
In the summer Falconer was sold on to Sheffield United for £400,000, which meant that Lawrence made a £100,000 profit on the Scot, who he had brought in from Watford at the same time as Paul Wilkinson two years earlier.
Falconer had played a major role in Boro winning promotion at the first attempt under Lawrence, though he suffered from one or two injuries in the campaign in the top flight.
The second Boro goal at Hillsborough came from the team’s other 19-year-old, Jamie Pollock, who was another who had suffered from injuries during the campaign.
The home grown Pollock was a wholehearted midfielder who displayed a maturity beyond his years from the moment he was first pitched into the side on a regular basis by Lawrence.
Pollock went on to spend much of his career at the highest level playing for, among others Bolton, Manchester City and Crystal Palace.
He had more than 300 league appearances under his belt when he announced his premature retirement from professional football at the age of 28.
Pollock’s goal at Hillsborough gave Boro a 2-0 interval lead and they added a third within six minutes of the restart when the lively Scot John Hendrie netted.
However Chris Bart-Williams pulled a goal back almost immediately, and then Boro spent much of the second half on the back foot.
An own goal by defender Chris Morris 12 minutes from time led to a barnstorming finale, but Boro held on for the points.
Another interesting character in the Boro line-up at Hillsborough was Andy Peake.
He was 29, and probably regarded as being close to the end of his career, when Lawrence signed him for a snip from Charlton in 1991.
Lennie had been Peake’s boss at Charlton and knew that he was bringing in an honest player who would do the business for the team.
Andy was a defensive midfielder who, despite a slight lack of pace, knew only one way how to play the game – and that was to work and work.
He was a solid performer for Boro for three years under Lawrence and one of the club’s real unsung heroes of the era.
In the summer when Lawrence was sacked Peake, who was reluctant to work his way down the leagues, announced his retirement from professional football and went home to his native Leicestershire to take up a role as a village bobby.
The Wednesday side contained several big names of the day, including right-back Viv Anderson who, a few years later, was to be installed as Boro’s assistant manager under Bryan Robson.
Viv, who was the first black player to represent England in a full international match, had played at the highest level throughout his career.
He had seen illustrious service with Nottingham Forest, Arsenal and Manchester United before linking up with Wednesday in 1991.
It turned out to be his last major club as a player.
After Wednesday, Anderson joined Barnsley as player-manager in succession to Mel Machin.
Unfortunately it was not a particularly successful step up into the hot seat.
Barnsley struggled and Viv resigned after a year in the job – becoming Robbo’s No 2 soon afterwards.
Anderson did not completely hang up his boots, going on to make two appearances for the Boro during an injury crisis when the club was battling for promotion to the Premier League in the 1994-95 campaign.
In one of these appearances, Anderson was drafted in as an emergency centre-back at West Bromwich on April Fool’s Day.
His dominating performance was quite remarkable as Boro won the game 3-1.
Anderson went on to spend seven years as assistant boss at the Boro, eventually leaving when Terry Venables was appointed as head coach in 2001.
Things change so quickly in football and now both Boro and Wednesday find themselves battling to try to bring back the good old days.
When Wednesday deservedly won 3-2 at the Riverside in August, they looked every bit a side which would be challenging strongly for promotion.
However, it’s not worked out as expected.
The Owls have struggled to maintain their early form and have since fallen away.
So Boro will go there as strong favourites on Saturday to reverse the Riverside result.
But they must be physically and mentally tuned up if they are to overcome the Hurdle of Hillsborough.
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