Sheaf Saint

Indeed. Reminiscent of Conolly's goal against Boro last week but with fewer passes in the build-up. Looks like we had some really good chances to score a few more as well. I really take heart from this performance. OK we switched off a little for Cov's first goal and their second was pure fluke after Fonte's clearance rebounded straight to the feet of their striker; but if we carry on creating that many chances and converting enough of them, as we are, then we can afford the odd defensive slip or two because we always look likely to outscore the opposition at the moment. Good times indeed!

Yep. I counted at least 5 world-class saves from Robert Green in those highlights. It could have been a very different story indeed.

Well you would see it like that wouldn't you Alps, due to your glass-half-empty outlook which ensures you only look for the negative aspect of anything. I don't see anything wrong with looking to see what other, neutral fans are saying about us either. Football fans are by definition extremely biased towards their own team so it is always very difficult to objectively analyse a match involving your own team, so finding out what people without blinkers have to say about our team really helps to gauge exactly how well we are actually doing. But no, clearly I and the Kraken are wrong. It's just an in-bred insecurity complex isn't it. Seriously Alps, have you learned nothing from what Adkins has instilled in this team? Everything we have achieved so far under his stewardship has resulted from the positive outlook and sheer self-belief that so evidently surrounds the whole club right now. Couldn't you try, just for once in your life, to adopt that for yourself and look for the positive in things instead of constantly being pessimistic about everything?

Nothing really. I was looking for this thread because I wanted to comment on how we have managed 6 out of 6 so far, and I thought I would read through the previous responses before I did. I came across yours and decided there and then to highlight it. Not sure why, but for one crazy moment I thought you might actually have a laugh about it and admit to being happy you were wrong. No need to be so defensive about it.

Care to revise your prediction Alps?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wLXJASUOmI This came to mind while I was out at a firework display tonight!

I've just watched the highlights on Saintsplayer and when Freckles put in the second tackle, all I saw was one Saints player raise his arms and look at the ref because his team-mate had just been chopped down - no worse than any other professional player would do. What I did notice, however, was when we scored both our goals the entire Posh defence in unison raised their hands and looked the the lino despite there being not the slightest hint of offside about either of them. Automatic reaction - they've scored therefore they must have been offside because we couldn't possibly have f*cked up enough to let them score, surely? DF really is a hypocritical nobhead.

Spot on. And I would bet my mortgage that Posh players have done it since Fergie junior has been manager there as well. But, of course, it's different when they do it because it's warranted, obviously.

It shows how far we have come when I can't actually remember the last time I went into stoppage time with a squeaky bum! It's always the same old story playing against 10 men because they will inevitably go a lot more defensive and it becomes much harder to break them down and expose gaps at the back, so it is very encouraging that we managed to get back into it and grab a point when we lost Hammond to a red card at Reading, but we didn't allow Posh to do the same thing to us because we already had the two goal cushion when they scored and closed the game out well by all accounts. Really can't complain. Sounds like we made some good chances to increase the score when we were on top as well, but their keeper apparently made a couple of top quality saves. 5 point gap at the top, Pompey dropping to 20th with Burnley, Barnsley, Forest and Watford all winning - couldn't be happier really

I make that 17 points now - more than double, and more importantly (and humorously) they drop to 20th place. Oh my aching sides!

Indeed, if you head south from Middlesborough then the next city with a football club you come to is York, and the next place with a half-decent football team would be Hull or Leeds - both a fair distance from Teeside. There's nothing to the west of them either except little old Darlington, so like us they have a pretty decent catchment area.

Well the people of the UK voted against an AV system earlier this year, so I guess it's only right we stick with the same FPTP system on here really.

Not surprising at all actually. I went to Boro in 2005 when we were both still in the prem and it was like a mortuary. Never did the 'Your ground's too big for you' chant seem more appropriate than at the Riverside. I've been to a few away games and seen some pretty poor, quiet crowds in my time, but they are up there with the very worst of them.

I've been thinking that all season since our spectacular start. Today was a potential banana skin and a lot of the talk on this forum has been that that this could be the game where we lose our amazing home record, but the focus and the composure from the team today was admirable, and Adkins clearly knows how to keep the players' feet on the ground.

Couldn't be happier right now, and very pleased I got to watch the entire game on a good quality stream as well. I thought Boro were very average and their league position is a little flattering to be honest. Tony Mowbray will be furious with his defence for letting Lambert walk right through them in the build up to the 3rd goal, but we should have been out of sight long before then really. 2nd half we did seem to let them have a lot more possession in midfield and a lot of 50/50 balls just didn't go our way, but the entire team defended with composure and we deserved a clean sheet really, as Boro's only shots on target were pretty weak efforts in the end. So we come to the end of what we all assumed would be a very tricky October with 3 wins and 2 draws, which is better than most were predicting at the start of the month and probably about as good as we could possibly have even hoped for. Now we move on to November with five very winnable games - home to Peterborough, Brighton and Hull, and two away games against teams currently struggling in the relegation zone: Coventry and Bristol City. The way things seem to be going for us right now, I wouldn't bet against 5 wins from that.

No, it would put them onto 27 - 3 points behind. They only drew with Brighton at home today.

What planet is this commentator on? we didn't play Boro last season FFS! The 2-2 game you keep going on about was in 2005!!!!!!!

I dunno, there's not much in it TBH. Anyway, they might be able to con him into thinking he is moving just down the road, as there is a little place called Portsmouth on the Lancs/Yorks border not far from Burnley... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth_%28Lancs%29_railway_station

Never mind Alps, I'm sure you're trying your hardest.

Off the top of my head I can think of Martin's header and a shot from Chaplow that he saved well.

Alps, we had a bad day at the office but we are still 3 points clear at the top of the league. I hate to be the one to break this to you but there will be occasions this season (and every season following it) where we won't play sublime, dazzling football for 90 minutes and opposition teams will dominate periods of games. Everything that we have achieved so far this season, and I mean everything, is due to the positive, winning mentality that Adkins has instilled into our players, yet you still take every possible opportunity to preach your depressing, negative drivel about how utterly sh*te we are and how our form will suffer and we will fail to get promoted. Seriously mate, why do you do it to yourself?

Would have taken a point before the game in all honesty, despite Reading's relatively poor home record this season, but to get one after the way the match panned out I'm well happy. For all their workrate and pressing, Reading didn't really create much in the way of clear opportunities IMO, so we have to be pleased with the way we defended against their pressure. It's just unfortunate that we couldn't exploit the spaces that were left by Reading's continual closing down of our players. We miss Lallana, and Guly looked like he hadn't even woken up tonight - can't see him keeping his starting place ahead of SDR much longer. Hammond's first yellow was a tad harsh I thought, but the second one fully deserved. It's great to have such a capable replacement in the form of Schneiderlin while he is suspended. MOTM for me was Chaplow. Unbelievable workrate and never gave up on anything. If the rest of the team had followed his example it would have been a completely different game.

I can't claim to be proud but it was far from embarrassing. If we had defended really badly and gone 3-0 down then I would agree with you, but as it happens we have gone away to what we all knew would be a very tough away game, ridden the storm and not conceded. What exactly is embarrassing about that? From my perspective, the half went the way it did because Reading have worked their bloody socks off to stop us from getting our passing game going. Every time one of our players got possession he was instantly surrounded by 2-3 Reading players. They won't be able to keep that up for 90 minutes, I guarantee that.

Yes he was, albeit very briefly. It was when they got duped by the fake sheikh and managed to convince Sol Campbell to sign for them a couple of years back.

Just wow. 5 points clear at the top after 12 games. Did any of us see that coming before the season started? When we made our good start I thought it was just that we were on a good run carried over from last season and that it was a bit false, but you know what?... I'm actually starting to believe we can get promoted this season now.