A Hull of a Weekend

The Tigers' visit to the Riverside Stadium last Friday heralded Aitor Karanka's reincarnation as the Middlesbrough Head Coach. For us it was almost

'death by a thousand sideways passes'

Hull pressed and Boro failed to find a way forward let alone through the Tigers defence. Then out of the gloom, or more accurately the smoke from yet another incendiary device, came a moment of magic as the industrious David Nugent headed an injury time winner that sparked scenes of wild jubilation amongst the Boro faithful and indeed the not-so faithful. In spite of the three points Middlesbrough finished the weekend in third place, outside of the automatic promotion spots but with a game in hand.

As for us, on Saturday we went to Hull and back, well almost. To be precise we went to Brantingham near Brough in North Humberside to cover Darlington Mowden Park's oval ball game against the intriguingly named Hull Ionians.

For those of you who are interested, alongside the Dorians, Aeolians and the Achaeans, the Ionians were one of the four tribes of Ancient Greece. Born out of a merger between Hull East Riding and Ionians rugby clubs in June 1989, the Hull branch of Ionians' tribe ply their trade at the rather more modern and impressive Brantingham Park.

Warren Seals it with last gasp kick.
©Shutter Press

The game itself was dominated not by either side but by the referee and we mused that today

'death was to be by a thousand whistle blows.'

More enthralling than exciting Mowden won with the last play of the game, a penalty converted by Warren Seals which led to the inevitable headline of "Warren Seals it with last gasp kick".

This weekend we head north to Shielfield Park for the Scottish League Two match of the day between Berwick Rangers and Elgin City. Not to be outdone we'll be back before that with a piece on who is Boro's best ever manager...