Boro went down to a 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace yesterday. A defensive mistake with several gilt-edged chances squandered. But nothing like the performance seen in most of away games this season. It could be a long, hard winter ahead.

So, to Gordon Strachan’s first away match and that mammoth journey into deepest southern London. Of course we missed the kick off as per usual despite setting out just after 7am. But then what do you expect of Selhurst Park, its nailed on that there will be every kind of impediment in the journey and usually in the match there as well.

Our new manager gave a debut to Isaiah Osbourne, loaned this week from Aston Villa and in general he did very well and his contribution grew as the match progressed. Osbourne and Williams played in the centre with Johnson and O’Neil providing width and penetration and Lita and Bent the roving targets upfront.

When we finally entered the ground, about 12 minutes in, Boro were well on top, Palace backing off from Adam Johnson and forced into rash challenges to try and stem his jinking attacks into the box. We had a succession of shots on goal, mostly blocked and lots of corners too. Marcus Bent squandered a golden opportunity when he totally sliced his shot from only a few yards out.

There was one phenomenal piece of skill from Adam Johnson to light up the fist half. He nipped the ball past defender Butterfield (already booked for a foul on him) and then zipped between two Palace players before performing a full 360 degrees turn whilst controlling the ball and beating his men to rush into the box. The run ended with him on the ground appealing for a penalty which it never was. But what a great moment all the same.

The second half started poorly. Arca was warming up and a change looked likely as Boro were now failing to really gel. Gary O’Neil summed things up, looking sharp and moving forward with speed before passing a ball straight to a Palace player.

Suddenly we started to catch the Eagles on the break and stretch them. Lita thundered away down the right but with players over he delayed his final ball. He still rounded the keeper but thumped the ball across the goal slightly ahead of Hoyte and Johnson, much to Johnson’s annoyance.

It was against this Boro dominance that Palace broke away and caused our downfall. The big defenders were still upfront as Neil Warnock’s side sprinted through the middle. Justin Hoyte was our last defender and suddenly had two forwards to deal with. Still, for a former centre back he was so so weak in his challenge and instead presented the ball on a plate for Darren Ambrose who had the simplest of tasks to lamp the ball past Brad Jones.

What a dreadful moment for Boro and Hoyte who didn’t stay on the field too much longer, Arca coming on and Williams switching back to right back. Brad Jones-haters please note no blame attached to the Aussie once again badly exposed by a defensive error that was almost like déjà vu from the last weekend. So costly again.

Boro had to now go for it. The away fans chanted, “attack, attack… attack, attack, attack.” No idea what the Palace fans were chanting, I honestly couldn’t decipher their accents. The young kids behind the goal seemed more intent on berating the police than on the game.

Gary O’Neil thundered away through the middle from the half way line. With only the keeper to beat he chose to chip but didn’t loft it high enuogh over the now short-haired Speroni. Speroni palmed the ball away and Gary O’Neil beat his fists against the ground in frustration. What a chance.

Arca had a shot on target and weaved a few runs inside from the right as Adam Johnson’s contribution faded away. Jonathan Franks came on for Lita and injected short bursts of real pace into our attack. He was to have his big opportunity when he latched onto the ball but his cracking shot was too central and Speroni made the save.

In the 4 minutes of added time Boro threw caution to the wind and piled bodies into the box. In the very last seconds a Wheater header set up Osbourne but his piledriver was blocked by a defender’s desperate challenge.

Full time; defeat. Two defeats in his first two games for Gordon Strachan. The away run is over. With two weeks off it feels like we have too much time to contemplate a new low for Boro. We are staring into an abyss of a continued stay in the Football League.

A couple of weeks ago the midfield of Digard, Williams and O’Neil promised great things, an engineroom that could take on anyone in the division but our defensive and attacking short comings were turning wins into defeats. On Saturday, Palace played us at our own game, catching us on the counter. But we looked like a team of strangers at times. That is the worry about bringing in a new manager with new ideas and new players mid-term.

We need these two weeks now to gel again and regain the confidence, composure and team understanding to mount a new challenge for promotion. At the moment that seems like a lost dream. People are now leaving away matches with the same emotion as home matches wondering if they can truly face the emotional upheaval of the next time.  Something tells me the next month or two will be critical for the health, wealth and future status of our football club. We need to take stock now and find a new route to charge back up the league, I don’t even want to think about the alternative.