We started rather tentatively, and although never under any real pressure, didn’t turn on the class until after the first goal went in. From then on the confidence started to flow – over-confidence at times – and the result was never then in doubt.

Coloccini mirrored this progression perfectly. As usual, he started tentatively, allowing his man to bully him. But then after 20 mins or so he seemed to realise that he was actually a better player than his striker and the confidence seemed to flood back.

Towards the end of the first half, under real pressure, he flicked the ball up and over his opponent who ended up flat on his @rse while FC calmly trapped the ball and brought it away. That’s by far the best thing I’ve seen from this guy, and it had me wondering whether there may actually be a player under that curly mop – at least at this level.

We defended better than last week, but against poorer opposition, although over-confidence caused us to give several soft corners away in the 2nd half. Harper had very little to do – I don’t think he made a single save. Taylor gave another strong performance in what tragically looks like being his farewell to SJP. Very sad.

We controlled m/f, and with it the game. Barton was in and out, but still contrived to play several terrific passes. Smith again patrolled the space in front of the back 4 to good effect, and after managing to get himself booked for two wild challenges he settled down and had another powerful game.

Shola was Shola, but this time scored 3 goals. His first was a slightly mistimed header from a brilliant cross from Enrique, his 2nd a superb diving header back across the keeper at the end of a thrilling passing move and another tremendous cross, this time from Barton. The 3rd was a calmly converted penalty given for handball – about the first decision that went our way.

A good atmosphere created by a small crowd, and a comfortable win – achieved against the backdrop of some anti-Ashley chanting and culminating in what looked like the sad goodbyes of one of our own.

Sadly, NUFC has returned to being a selling club, with Steven Taylor seemingly preparing to trod the path previously taken by Waddle, Beardsley and Gazza.

Despite the high stakes and the unbelievable tension, it was a great little contest, and a pretty good spectacle. Littered with errors, yes, but that was inevitable given the recent form of both teams and the position they find themselves in.

The committment of the black ‘n whites has frequently been called into question this season – but not tonight. In fact, I couldn’t fault any of the 22 players for their committment to their respective causes.

Despite getting off to the worst possible start, the Boro players seemed the more nervous, and I think the atmosphere may just have affected them a little. We had the best of the 1st half without creating a whole lot, and too often leaving ourselves vulnerable on the break.

Guthrie was our main creative influence via his corners, which were generally excellent – with Taylor thumping one in for the equaliser. He was finding the ideal corner – the one that only just eludes the 1st man.

As has been the case recently, we started running out of steam around the hour. For a spell then Boro got on top, and things began to look rather ominous. For whatever reason, Jonas stopped playing – either fatigue or possibly an injury – and he and Owen were replaced with Lovenkrands and Martins – and who proved to be the match-winners.

Martins was really lively, and made an immediate impact with the Boro defenders tiring. Lovenkrands ended the contest finishing off a good move with a neat finish.

Our much-criticised midfield did really well tonight, all working their socks off for the cause. With Beye and Duff both getting forward whenever possible, we were often at full stretch defensively, particularly on the break, and several last-ditch tackles were needed to prevent a second Boro goal, which would probably have proven terminal. However, Harper was never under any concerted pressure. This was probably just as well as he seemed to me to be particularly nervy tonight.

Viduka was quite superb up front, and showed precisely what we have missed because of his fragile fitness. Owen, I’m afraid was largely anonymous again, apart from one guided header from a Viduka cross that brought a good save. He just looks lost, and rather than simply having ‘lost a yard’ of pace, he now looks utterly pedestrian. He’s a very sad sight actually.

I thought Damien Duff was a revelation at LB. He defended really well, made tackles, and won a surprising number of balls in the air for a midget. He was my MOTM.

I was dreading going along tonight, and went fearing the worst. In the event, it turned out to be quite a spectacle; one I’ll remember for quite a while. For once, our heroes didn’t let us down, and thrillingly have created a chink of light. The question is can they take advantage of tonight’s massive effort and make the final breakthrough?

At least they’ve given themselves a chance – and all of us renewed hope.

Having said that we competed for an hour, the stark reality is that yet again we created virtually nothing, with Petr Cech being virtually unemployed. We did have one chance cleared off the line in the 2nd half – I think from Owen – and there are suggestions the ball was over the line. I guess that’s the way it goes when you’re down at the bottom.

The decisive goal that totally changed the game was once again the result of pure comedy defending, with Coloccini yet again culpable. Hopefully, Shearer will dump this clown as soon as he has two alternative CB choices.

Although we did creditably for an hour, tbh I’m struggling to think of one player who actually played well for us. Habib Beye did quite well defensively, although he was involved in several early mix ups caused by poor communication between our players. Nicky Butt had a reasonable game, despite his usual quota of shocking distribution. Michael Owen worked his socks off between m/f and up front, but in truth with little impact.

On the negative side, Enrique was back to being infuriatingly inconsistent, Duff – a 1st half substitute for Lovenkrands – was hopeless, as was Martins, and even Jonas was a disappointment. Nolan and Ryan Taylor worked hard for the cause, but the bald truth I’m afraid is that they simply have not improved the team. For completeness, Harper made a couple of good saves, but once again his kicking was generally poor.

Worryingly, Lovenkrands left the field on a stretcher connected to an oxygen cylinder. It looked like a rib injury, and he seemed to be struggling to get his breath. Hopefully, it isn’t as bad as it looked.

Perhaps the expected anti-climax to a few days that have provided some temporary hope. However, we were playing a very decent Chelsea team today, and we now need the players to dig deep against the lesser teams. It’s not looking good.

That we didn’t was once again down to downright appalling defending on both goals, but particularly the second, which was horrific even by our dismal standards.

I thought we were well-organised tonight, tried to hold possession, and gave “the world’s best team” one hell of a contest. What utterly confuses me is why we can look like a decent team v ManU after looking like a bunch of clowns only three days ago at bliddy Bolton.

In addition to scoring, and concurrently spoiling Van der Saar’s record cleansheet attempt (hee, hee!), we created several half chances in the 1st half with players seemingly reluctant to throw their bodies at excellent crosses hit between their back four and the keeper.

On their part, apart from picking the ball out of the net twice, and dealing with a number of corners – not always that well – Harper didn’t have a whole lot to do. He made a fairly comfortable save from Rooney late in the game, and tipped one fierce shot over the bar, but we were never under seige.

I thought Martins had a smashing game, foraging largely on his own, but keeping Rio and Vidic on their toes throughout. Lovenkrands played a deep lying role, supplementing the midfield, but covered acres of ground, and I thought he had a very decent game.

The midfield of Smith and Geremi, supplemented by Ryan Taylor and Lovenkrands were able to keep things under reasonable control, although they began to run out of steam towards the end.

Unfortunately, Ryan Taylor made the critical error when trying to chest the ball back to Harper and leaving it short. What happened then is a bit of a blur, because our defenders seemed to stop as though the whistle had blown when the ball seemed eminently clearable.

While they dithered, ManU played on, and scored one of the softest goals you will ever see at any level. Very, very disappointing – especially as we defended well for long periods, and kept Dangermouse and Berbatov relatively quiet. Rooney was lively, and a constant threat.

Bassong and Enrique played well. Jonas worked his gonads off, got a few kicks for his trouble, but too often ran down blind alleys for me, and didn’t create enough.

Another defeat, another game less to play, and we are slipping inexorably into serious trouble. However, a lot of positives can be taken from that performance. Much of the improvement for me was down to better ball retention, which gives you more control in the game.

I sincerely hope that is the lesson to be learned going into the remaining games. Geremi and Smith certainly didn’t play blinders, but they achieved a lot by holding their positions, and playing it simple, and passing to feet – usually, if not always.

This despite having the best defender on the field in young Bassong. He put in the tackle of the season on Jones as he was steaming forward, but then seemed to pick up a side or rib knock in the challenge that finished that ace dick, Djbril Cisse, and he was struggling towards the end. Hopefully he will be ok, because we really can’t afford to be without him with Coloccini still so shaky.

I thought both FBs did well today. Taylor had a barnstorming 2nd half charging forward at every opportunity, culminating in the disputed penalty award. Having watched the replay 2 or 3 times it certainly looked to me as though Malbranque caught the back of Taylor’s leg which brought him down. This contrasted with Duff’s pitiful dive in the area that deservedly brought him a booking 10 mins earlier. Actually, he may well have been slightly touched, but he was clearly looking for it and his dive cost him and us.

Despite a few trademark displaced passes, I thought Enrique had a really good game, linking very well with Jonas. There is a very good LB lurking within young Jose Enrique; whether our rag-bag of coaches can bring it out is the question. I actually really admire this lad.

This young fella has been subjected to a large pile of criticism, and it would have been very easy for him to just shrug his shoulders, give up and wait for the inevitable free transfer back home. However, he hasn’t done that. He has kept his head down, worked hard, and seems determined to make a success of things at SJP. I sincerely hope he makes it.

Duff was frustratingly ineffective, although I actually thought he improved as the game wore on, and had a half decent 2nd half. Gutierrez had a smashing game, although his end product was largely disappointing. He attracted a lot of crude challenges, at least one of which should imho have brought a red card when Bardsley crashed through the back of him and landed him in a heap on the cinder track. They presumably have abandoned the idea that tackles from behind attract red cards?

I thought Butt and Nolan did ok in central m/f, without ever dominating. However, the lack of genuine creativity from midfield was once again palpable. As ever, Butt gave his all, but once again showed his tendency to give the ball away with sloppy passing.

I thought Nolan had a really solid game considering he only signed for us on Friday. Unlike most of our midfielders, he does the simple stuff well – wins tackles, picks up his man when not in possession, and can pass the ball to a colleague. He barely gave the ball away all afternoon, which imho is a massive improvement on what we have become used to. He is also a talker, and tried to do some organising, despite having only just walked through the door. I reckon he will be the next skipper of NUFC.

Up front, Ameobi and Carroll tried hard, but lacked any kind of understanding. Carroll won a fair bit in the air, and headed a cross against the bar in the 1st half. Shola was a frustrating as ever. He had an awful 1st half, but a better 2nd when he seemed to recover his touch.

He bravely took the penalty, while 50,000 finger nails were being chewed. I was sure he’d miss it, but shouldn’t have doubted him. In truth, he could and perhaps should have had a hat-trick. He ballooned a great chance over the bar in the 1st half when Taylor picked him out after a great run down the right wing, and missed a very good chance late in the 2nd half that would have won it for us.

I don’t think you could really complain today. The players gave 100%, gave away yet another soft goal, but kept going, and upped the effort in the 2nd half. The worrying thing, of course, is that that is yet another home draw, and another 2 home points dropped: drawing at home while losing away can only produce one inevitable conclusion.

We just have to keep going, and 3 points at WBA next week would provide a massive boost going into another tough run of fixtures.