A Share of the Spoils

Boro Walked out of tonight's, 7pm, game with a share of the spoils after a 1 all draw with mediocre Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin.
The game was heated in more than one sense of the word. With temperatures lingering around the 40 degree centigrade mark, tempers were also fraying as Yakubu was brought down inside the Hertha penalty area, resulting in a penalty that Yakubu converted to give Boro the equaliser after Hertha's Malik Fathi had opened the scoring just before the break.
Andrew Davies appeared to suffer a broken nose after 63 minutes when Solomon Okoronkwo's hand made heavy contact with the defender's face after Davies challenged the Nigerian.

Just 2 minutes later, Fabio Rochemback reacted strongly to a similar attack on him by Pal Dardai and both players were hastily dismissed by the referee who wasn't prepared to take any nonsense in a game tagged as a friendly.
The man of the match was easily Boro goalkeeper Ross Turnbull who made a series of fantastic saves to keep his team in the game and to stake a real claim for himself in Gareth Southgate's eyes for next season.

Another positive note was that new boy Jeremie Aliadiere made his first appearance in a Boro shirt and had a pretty good run. Showing some bursts of pace and linking in with Yakubu and Lee Cattermole, creating some promising chances with the latter.