But whilst Boro didn’t play particularly well and were dominated through the first half up to the sending off and then failed to put away majority of the chances that we created, most Boro fans can still take heart from the game because most importantly we came away from that game with three points when last season we would have surely lost.

I have to give credit to Stoke for putting in a gritty and determind display and for Tony Pullis for getting his tactics spot on and virtually stopping us from playing. Had Faye not been sent off the result might have been quite different.
Though admittedly at the time i was infuriated by the way Stoke had set out to get in our faces and kick lumps out of the boro and not attempt to play much football (which is a bit of a shame cause they have a fair few decentish players in their squad) some times they made Bolton at their worst look like arsenal by comparisson. But all credit to Stoke for showing that there no pushovers.

To me Aliadiere didnt seem off his game, more prehaps in terms of the type of game it was, he wasn’t as effective. But so far this season he seems to be slotting in brilliantly at right wing and has improved brilliantly since he’s been with us. This new role seems to be suiting him quite well and whilst he doesn’t get on the score sheet much it the common consensus that when he is in the team we play much better.