On the 30th of July, 1997 Newry Town took on Middlesbrough in a glamour friendly at the Showgrounds, with the Teeside club providing arguably the greatest calibre of opposition in terms of players we have ever met.
Middlesbrough had just been controversially been relegated from the Premier League after being deducted 3 points for postponing a game against Blackburn. Those three points would have kept them up and relegated Coventry City instead. They also reached both the FA Cup and League Cup finals losing both to Chelsea and Leicester respectively.
Although they were without their top scorer Fabrizio Ravenelli, who had hit 31 goals the previous season who stayed at home, and new signing Paul Merson because of injury, they did have the flamboyant Brazilian Emerson and Italian Gianluca Festa who had won a UEFA Cup with Inter Milan.
They also had player-manager Bryan Robson - a former Manchester United legend who captained United to their first two Premier League titles as well as their Cup Winners Cup triumph over Barcelona in 1990/91. He won 90 International Caps for England captaining them 65 times including the 86’ and 90 World Cups!
As expected Boro dominated the game from the off and were a goal up within two minutes. Danish International Mikkel Beck setting them on their way with a fine shot which went in off the far post.
In a game of few chances for us, John Kenny came closest as Boro keeper Andy Dibble dived at his feet when he had burst through the defence. Paul Straney, on loan from Glenavon in the Newry goal, also done likewise to prevent Festa scoring at the other end.
The Teesiders finally got their inevitable second goal when Chris Freestone glided home after 40 minutes and the score remained 2-0 at half-time.
Boro brought on their Brazilian playmaker Emerson at the start of the second half, much to the joy of the home fans, many of whom were disappointed not to see him in the starting lineup. The samba star taking no time at all to stamp his authority on the game.
Freestone and Beck would go on to score again while Craig Hignett put the icing on a 5-star performance in the 82nd minute.
Full Time: Newry Town 0 Middlesbrough 5
Newry Town:
Back Row (L-R) Chris Coffey, James Webster. Paul Straney, John McDonnell, Terry Taylor, Michael Crowe.
Front Row (L-R) Jim Barr, John Kenny, Dessie Gorman, Tiernan Rice (mascot), Tony Scappaticci, John Whyte.
Middlesbrough:
Back Row (L-R) Mikkel Beck. Robbie Mustoe, Craig Liddle, Andy Dibble, Curtis Flemming, Gianluca Festa.
Front Row: Bryan Robson, Chris Freestone, Alan Moore, Andy Campbell, Vladamir Kinder.
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