Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough v Reading

Sky Bet Championship
Riverside Stadium
Saturday 27th April 2019

3pm

Journey Time to the ground: 5 hours 15 minutes.  After a very last minute decision to attend the last away game of the season we left the house at 9:30am.  After a couple of stops on the way up at Leicester Forest East and Trowell services, and a diversion on the A19 due to an accident, we parked up on a verge off Stephenson Way (along with a number of other cars and hoping we wouldn't end up with a ticket) at around 2:45pm.  From here it was a five minute walk to the ground.

Ticket Price: £30

Programme Price: £2

This was my first visit to the Riverside Stadium, a ground that had always seemed a long way from home!  We had tickets in the away section which is the Southern section of the East Stand along one side of the pitch.  This single-tiered all-seater stand is shared with the home fans.  The view of the pitch and leg room are good, although with the small number of travelling fans being housed towards the back of the stand, it felt very isolated from the rest of the ground.

To the left of the East Stand is the South Stand, where the main Middlesbrough singing section is.  This is also a single-tiered all-seater stand.  Opposite the East Stand is the West Stand.  This is the main stand at the Riverside and is a two-tiered all-seater stand housing the team dug-outs at it's front.  To the right of the East Stand is the North Stand, another single-tiered all-seater stand.

With Reading still needing a point to secure safety and Middlesbrough still in contention for a play-off position, there was a lot riding on this game.  Reading took the lead in the 11th minute, when Danny Loader collected a short throw-in from Chris Gunter before unleashing a shot into the top right-hand corner from the end of the area for his first senior goal.  Middlesbrough equalised in the 31st minute, with Lewis Wing lashing in from ten yards after Jonny Howson's right-wing cross had only been half cleared.  Middlesbrough continued to the press forward and went ahead six minutes before half-time.  George Saville want down after a collision with Andy Yiadom and a penalty was awarded.  Britt Assombalonga sent Emi Martinez the wrong way from the spot, smashing his penalty into the left-hand corner of the net.

Middlesbrough continued to be the more dominant team in the second-half, without creating as many clear-cut chances as they had in the last period.  Reading did try and push for an equaliser towards the end, but to no avail.  As Rotherham were being hammered, it didn't matter and the final whistle confirmed that Reading were safe from relegation with a game to spare.

Attendance: 22,003 with 380 Reading fans.

Atmosphere:  The atmosphere was good.  The last away game of the season is always the annual inflatables game, and an array of blow-up items were flying around the away end for the duration of the game.  The Middlesbrough fans in the South Stand behand the goal were fairly vocal through-out the game, but I could imagine the atmosphere being a bit flat if it was a nothing game.

Journey Time home: 6 hours 30 minutes.  We headed straight back to the car and after a stop in Middlesbrough town centre to get some fuel decided to make the long trip home.  We stopped at Woolley Edge services and got some Burger King for dinner.  We continued down the M1 and decided to stay on it until it hit the M25 which was bit of a mistake as an accident added about an hour onto our journey.  After another stop at Newport Pagnell services to get more fuel, we ended up around home at around 11:30pm

The trip up to Middlesbrough wasn't bad.  It's a pretty long one to do in one day and I think if I was to visit again I would probably make a weekend of it.  The weather was fairly cold for April, which made me glad that we hadn't had to go up during the winter!