As Boro's Football League debut approached, there was frantic activity down Seamer Road to get the ground upgraded for the coming season.  One of the major changes involved the creation of an 'away end' and, when the fixture list dictated that the first two visitors would be the well-supported Wolves and Bolton Wanderers, this became a financial priority.
 
While investment in ground facilities was high, Neil Warnock made only two significant additions to his squad, bringing in former Mansfield Town full-back Les McJannet from Matlock Town and the much-travelled, veteran striker Ernie Moss from Stockport County.  Moss had started 707 first-team matches with League clubs and had scored 239 senior goals.  Already in his late 30s, the Chesterfield-born front man brought a wealth of League experience to the Yorkshire coast.
 
Seven pre-season friendlies were played in 20 days as the team prepared for its first-ever 4th Division game.  The first three of these involved trips to Stapenhill, Gainsborough and Matlock and brought three confidence- boosting wins.  Preston North End were then beaten 1-0 and there were draws at Hull City and at home to a Newcastle United XI.  Finally, a tough work-out against a strong Sheffield Wednesday side was completed, leaving six days to the big kick-off.
 
The Sunday papers gave the 'new boys' a fair amount of coverage, though opinion seemed heavily divided over Boro's prospects.  One of the broadsheets, however, contained something different to the rest.  This publication decided the best thing to do to analyse Boro's chances of success was to ask one of the town's fortune tellers.  The lady in question forecast that Boro would eventually rise within the Football League, but only after a major financial crisis had rocked the club to its very foundations.
 
THE OPENING PHASE
 
At 3 p.m., on August 15th, Boro's first Football League kicked off.  A huge crowd watched fairly even exchanges between the new boys and their famous visitors, Wolverhampton Wandererss.  Some were still talking about the visiting fan who had managed to fall through the roof of the stand when Stewart Mell ran away from the Wolves' defence to put Boro ahead.  By half-time, however, the Molineux men were dominating the game and had gone ahead 2-1.  The second-half saw Boro come back and Ray McHale's well-drilled equaliser was a just reward for the team's efforts.  In the end, a draw was a fair result.
 
A Littlewoods Cup win over Doncaster Rovers four days later boosted fans' spirits further and when the team held a 1-0 half-time at Leyton Orient the following Saturday, confidence was running high about prospects for the season.  How quickly things can change.  Orient scored three times in the second half to take the points and when the same thing happened at Doncaster three days later Boro were out of the Littlewoods Cup.  In both matches the team had tired significantly in the second half.
 
Neil Warnock was not a man to panic.  The side which took on Bolton Wanderers on August 29th was the same as had begun the opening two 4th Division fixtures.  Boro overran their Lancashire  opponents and followed the 4-0 triumph by winning 3-1 at Colchester two days afterwards.  The opening phase of the campaign drew to a close with a third successive League victory on September 5th, against Tranmere Rovers.  This gave Boro a total of 10 points from 5 matches and a share of the leadership of Division Four.

In the early stages of any season, especially with 3 points for a win, positions can change quite dramatically.  Boro experienced this on Saturday, September 12th, when an odd-goal reverse at the Feethams, against Darlington saw Neil Warnock's side tumble from 2nd to 6th.  Seven days later, however, following home wins over Welsh duo Newport County and Swansea City, Boro found themselves on top of the 4th Division pile.
If anyone in the Boro ranks was expecting the next game to produce another victory, against lowly Carlisle United, there was to be a rude awakening.  The long trip to the north-west corner of the Football League saw the Reds taken apart in the second half and end up on the wrong end of a 0-4 drubbing.  Boro slipped to fifth in Division Four on the back of this defeat.  With another lengthy journey down to Torquay three days later, the harsh realities of Football League life were being very much highlighted.
Sometimes football results make little sense.  Boro's visit to Plainmoor to play Torquay should have been tougher than the long haul up Carlisle.  United were among the 4th Division front-runners, ahead of Boro in the table.  David Bowman's second-half strike settled the contest though and Boro leapfrogged over their Devon rivals into second place behind Leyton Orient.  On Friday, October 2nd, Cardiff City eased into top spot with a single goal success at Stockport County, which left Boro third, with a game in hand on the new leaders.
This was played on the afternoon of October 3rd, with another famous name, Burnley, visiting Scarborough.  The Turf Moor club occupied a mid-table position before the game, but were only 3 points behind Boro.  It was bound to be a close encounter and so it proved.  Thanks to Stewart Hamill's first-half goal, Boro came out on top and moved onto 22 points from 11 matches.  Those who drifted into the clubhouse after the final whistle soon had more to celebrate as the results from around the country came up on 'Grandstand'.  Leyton Orient had only drawn at Stockport County, meaning Boro were back on top of Division Four.

Reaching the top is hard in any league, but staying there is usually even tougher.  Boro had found this out already.  Neil Warnock reminded his side of this before the next fixture which brought Exeter City to Scarborough on Saturday, October 10th.  A gee-up from the manager at half-time, when the scores were level, did the trick and Boro won the game 3-1 to remain clear.
First place was clung onto for the next three weeks.  Unfortunately, Boro failed to win during this period, taking only two points from their next 4 games.  Future England international David Platt scored the only goal of the game as Boro lost at Crewe Alexandra on October 17th.  Platt moved to Aston Villa three months later - shame it wasn't sorted out earlier. 
Colin Russell was brought in from Doncaster Rovers in an attempt to increase Boro's fire-power and he duly obliged by scoring at Hereford United.  A strike from home star Ian Bowyer meant that the game ended all square though.  Russell was on target again against Hartlepool United the following Saturday, but, once again, the match finished 1-1, with Andy Toman's penalty for the visitors depriving Boro of two points.
When Neil Warnock's side slipped to a single goal defeat at Wrexham on the last day of October, the League leadership was also lost and Boro ended the month in fourth place.  Another 1-1 against Cardiff City on Wednesday, November 4th, saw Boro drop to seventh place in the table, three points behind leaders Wolves, but only three points ahead of thirteenth-placed Peterborough United.  The margin between success and mid-table mediocrity was narrow.
 
 
Boro's next fixture was away to Scunthorpe United, one of the clubs clustered just above them.  New signing, Alan Kamara, from Burton Albion, was in the starting line-up and his experience proved crucial in dealing with the problems posed by the lively Scunthorpe attack.  Boro won the match, thanks to Ray McHale's goal, but the 3 points gained had to be offset against the loss of 'keeper Kevin Blackwell.  Mitch Cook took over between the sticks and, with the aid of some unorthodox methods, denied the home side an equaliser.  The win took Boro up to fourth in the 4th. 
Assistant manager, Paul Evans, was pressed into service in goal for the F.A. Cup tie against Grimsby Town a week later.  Boro made an early exit, despite Evans' sound performance.  Manager Warnock completed the signing of experienced Irish 'keeper Jim McDonagh in time for the next league fixture against Halifax Town and also fielded another new signing up front in the form of Simon Lowe, brought in from Colchester United.  Despite leading at half-time, Boro had to settle for a point from a 1-1 draw.
Simon Lowe had scored Boro's goal against the Shaymen and he repeated the trick in the club's next two matches, both of which ended in 1-1 draws, at Rochdale and at home to Peterborough United, when another half-time advantage was lost.  Boro's position in the 4th Division was now sixth.  Far from being down at this frustrating run, the side produced an excellent performance at Stockport County on December 19th and should have won comfortably.  An amazing goal by the much-travelled home striker Frank Worthington put County ahead, however, and Steve Richards' equaliser was all Boro could manage in reply. 
The half-way point in the season was reached on Boxing Day, when Carlisle United were entertained in front of a large holiday crowd.  Boro had a point to prove, given the result in the first meeting between the two sides earlier in the campaign.  A 1-0 half-time lead was, at last, built on and the 3 points from the 3-1 success pushed Boro back up the table to fifth.
 
 
 
Boro started the final league match of 1987 in a play-off position and supporters hoped that the boost of victory over Carlisle could act as a platform to build on in coming weeks.  What happened though was quite the opposite and, by the end of January, any hopes of promotion had been, at the very least, severely dented.  Boro slid into mid-table and remained there, despite the occasional vintage performance.
The first setback came on the final Saturday of December, when Boro visited Cambridge United, a side 6 points and 8 places behind Neil Warnock's men.  A dour encounter ended in a single goal defeat for Boro, who slipped to 7th in the table as a result.  On New Year's Day the trip to Bolton Wanderers' Burnden Park ground also ended in defeat and cost Boro another place in the divisional standings.
Twenty-four hours later, Boro entertained improving Darlington - a chance, it seemed, to restore confidence and prevent the stumbles developing into something of a slide.  It was not to be.  The Quakers took a first-half lead and held onto it.  Some of the team looked tired towards the end of Boro's third game in six days.  A win was desperately needed … and, apparently, a rest.  There was a break from match action for a fortnight after the Darlington game, taking the pressure off a little.
For the mid-January visit to Swansea City, Neil Warnock brought the experienced Cec Podd and Craig Short into the defence and Kenny Lowe, signed from Barrow, started in midfield.  The changes did not improve things, however, and Boro lost 0-3.  The team had now gone four games without scoring in open play, the goal at Bolton having come from the penalty-spot.
Two weeks later Boro took on Colchester United at home.  After a quartet of defeats, the attendance was well down on the average for the season (2155 compared with a mean of 3540 for the previous 12 games).  When the first-half produced no goals, there were mutterings among sections of the crowd, who had seen Boro go from 5th to 12th since Boxing Day.  The second half saw Boro rediscover their scoring touch though and a 3-1 success sent the majority of spectators home happy.
 

Could Boro climb up the table again? As the team failed to score in the next 3 games, it seemed highly unlikely, but there was a brief promise of better times to come when the next two matches were both won – the first case of back-to-back victories sine early October. Having gone down to 13th place by mid-February, Boro clambered back up to 10th spot by the start of March. When the next game was lost, however, the mini-revival shuddered to a halt.

The first February fixture ended in a 0-1 reverse at Tranmere. Among the changes made for the next match, at home to Cambridge United, Alan Kamara switched to right-back and Neil Thompson was able to return at left-back. The game ended 0-0. Ernie Moss had led the Reds’ attack for the last time. This was the fifth time in seven outings that Boro had failed to score. Of the four goals hit in the other two games, two were penalties.

Simon Lowe and Ian Bennyworth were brought back into the starting line-up for Boro’s next match –at 4th Division leaders, Wolves. The Friday night clash ended 0-0 – for once though, the final score was a cause for celebration, while the performance was outstanding and one of the highlights of the second half of the campaign.

In their next two games, for which Neil Warnock was able to name an unchanged team, Boro played to the standard supporters had become used to during 1987. Leyton Orient had a fruitless trip to the Yorkshire coast on Wednesday, February 24th, and a double from Stewart Mell marked the first time a Boro striker had netted since Boxing Day. This was followed by success at , and the double over, Burnley. But … just when it seemed the season was back on track, Torquay United travelled up from Devon and stole the points in a midweek visit on March 2nd.



Boro scored for the fourth game in succession when beating Crewe Alexandra 2-0 three days after the defeat by Torquay. The team then failed to register a goal in the four subsequent games and, taking one point from a possible 12, slid from 9th to 15th in the table. Various things were tried to put the situation right, but nothing seemed to make very much difference.

Tony Outhart came on as substitute at Exeter City, where Boro began this depressing mini-run. Gary Brook, signed from Frickley Athletic, started in the third game in the sequence, at Hartlepool United. Stewart Hamill returned to the side for the game against Scunthorpe United on Easter Saturday.

The matches at Exeter and Hartlepool ended in single goal defeats and the home encounter against the Iron finished 0-0. What a difference it would have made if Boro had taken just a small number of their chances.

The worst moments in this run were, however, probably in the home defeat by Wrexham. The North Wales visitors took a 2-0 lead by half-time and then sat on this. Boro’s confidence was somewhere below the bottom of the Mere during the second half and some people were on their way home by 4.30 p.m.

There was a bright spot, however, namely the performance of Ian Ironside in the net at Hartlepool. The Sheffield-born ‘keeper, Boro’s fifth to wear the Number 1 jersey during the first season as a Football League club, performed heroics and deserved a clean-sheet for his efforts. This came in the next game.

Boro managed to break the latest scoring duck with two goals at Halifax Town on Easter Monday. Sadly, the Shaymen also scored twice and another two points went begging. At least the ‘Boro – nil’ tag had been removed though and the point won enabled Boro to move up the table by one place.



With six games left to play, the Boro squad were given the target of finishing in the top half of the table. With four of the remaining matches to be played against teams from below them in the table, there seemed to be the chance of a decent finish to the club’s first Football League experience.

First up were Hereford United, who made the long journey to the Yorkshire coast on April 9th. Boro scored twice in the first half, then relaxed a little. Hereford pulled one back from the penalty-spot, but the three points were Boro’s. The next fixture was away to rock bottom Newport County, whose stay in the Football League, amid a major financial crisis, was almost over. The Somerton Park side had lost its senior players by the time Boro arrived in South Wales and Neil warnock’s men had their easiest outing for some time in strolling to a 4-goal success.

Eleven days later, Boro were back in the Principality to face a far stiffer test at Cardiff City. The Bluebirds were chasing promotion and took a 1-0 lead into the half-time break. A later penalty clinched the points for the home side, but Boro could take heart from a sound performance against one of the 4th Division’s leading clubs.

Back on home soil, Boro beat Rochdale by the odd goal in three and ended the day in 13th place, just one below the top half finish aimed for. The move into ‘the target area’ was made on Bank holiday Monday, through the point won after a gritty performance at Peterborough. This left one game to play – at home to Stockport County. The first period went well and Boro should have held the lead at the interval. Substitute Stewart Hamill scored for the home side in the second half, but Boro were forced to settle for a draw because the Hatters converted a penalty – the third Boro had conceded in six outings. It was a rather indifferent note to finish on, but with only one loss in their final eight 4th Division games Boro and their supporters could look forward to the next campaign with at least a hint of optimism.



After the 4th Division play-off final, second leg was played on May 28th, Boro supporters and those on the playing, management and administrative staff had, at last, a clear picture of who the club would face in the second Football League season.

It was already known that two of the long trips to South Wales would not be needed as Newport County had been relegated to the Conference and Cardiff City had been promoted to Division Three. When Swansea City beat Torquay United 5-4 on aggregate on May 28th, it meant that a third long haul was wiped off the planning board. Replacing Newport were new Conference champions, Lincoln City, while coming down from Division Three were Rotherham United (via the play-offs), Doncaster Rovers, Grimsby Town, and York City.

With big clubs Wolves and Bolton Wanderers having moved up, there seemed to be a chance for the smaller clubs to battle it out in the 1998-99 season in Division Four. This was encouraging and club officials were more than happy at the reduced travelling costs that would be required. It was also hoped that the average attendance of 3003 could be maintained with the help of ‘Yorkshire derbies’, including, of course, the clash with York City.

There seemed every reason to look forward to the new season.

So, that was the end of the 1987/88 season, Boro's inaugural Football League season.  How does it compare with the previous season?... click this link to find out:

And if you'd like to know what was happening on today's date in various years from 1879 to 2007, the link below will take you to the "Today in Boro History" page.