Boss Happy With Final Test
BORO got the tough test they'd wanted from Union Berlin in their final friendly before Saturday's curtain raiser against Ipswich Town at the Riverside, said Gordon Strachan.
The manager had wanted a serious game against business-minded opposition - and he certainly got it against a strong, fit side buoyed by a crowd whose noisy passion belied the game's friendly status.
"That was a real game that one and it was a good game," he said. "We saw a lot of good things. The crowd was good, the tackles were real and that was what I was after.
"We took a wee while to get warmed up but we'd had a hard training session yesterday and put a lot into it. But when we got settled and had a look at their system, we got better."
The German Bundesliga 2 outfit came out of the traps sharply and gave Boro plenty to think about as they cruised into a 2-0 lead.
But two superb Scott McDonald goals within four minutes at the end of an all action first half kept Boro's unbeaten pre-season record intact.
"They were two terrific goals," said Strachan, who took time to go over to the 100 of so travelling Boro fans at the end of the game to thank them for their support.
"Hopefully they got two smashing games over here," he said. "Hopefully we gave them two goals they could enjoy but there's still a lot of work to do.
"My record in pre-season friendlies is shocking but I always manage to claw something out of a season, so I don't take too much from it.
"It's more about fitness and I thought the players' fitness was good at the end."
Kris Boyd was substituted late in the game suffering from blisters and Nicky Bailey missed out with a slight knock, but otherwise there were no new injury concerns.
