9th September 1899 - Boro's 1st home game as a league club

[erimus74]

Small Heath, now Birmingham City, had been a member of the football league since 1892/93 & who previously spent 2 seasons in the 1st division, arrived at Linthorpe road for this 2nd division fixture
 
Small Heath who were playing their 2nd fixture of the season, having beating Walsall at home 3-2 in the seasons opener, were to face the Boro who were playing their 3rd game of their debut season, 2 games, 2 defeats
Unfortunately this game went the same as the previous two games as we suffered our 3rd consecutive defeat & again, conceding three goals

Small Heath won this game on Teesside 3-1 with CF Bob McRoberts scoring a hat trick, our historical home goal was scored by our 16th registered player, Michael Murphy, becoming the 1st Boro player to score a home league goal & 1st Boro player to score on his Boro debut

Boro manager John Robson had seen his team lose 3 games on the bounce since becoming a member of the football league 0-3, 1-3 & 1-3

Out of 18 teams we went on to finish in 14th place that season, failing to win a single away game
Michael Murphy went on to score 2 goals in 2 games for the mighty Boro