Let’s tick 2025 off the list; another year is now done and Boro’ now move onto a landmark year. But what of the last 12 months? What were the stories that got us excited, frustrated, angry, or downright confused? As you can imagine, no calendar year is ever uneventful. It could be good or it could be bad. It could, to be fair, be indifferent also. As we end 2025 in fine-enough shape, let’s look back at the path we charted through the year.
January
It was an inauspicious start to 2025 for Boro’. As far as League One is concerned, we kicked things off in 14th position. We were 20 points off the summit, 10 clear of the drop zone. An inconsistent December didn’t really change the fact we were solidly mid-table. And we had little to smile about in our opening two fixtures. A trip to Lincoln and a home meeting with Wigan yielded one point. They were also two weeks apart as Burton (H) was called off.
But a Vertu Trophy win at Leyton Orient jolted us into life; ending the month with two wins on the bounce in League One.
Player Movements: Thompson twins out on permanent deals; Nathan to MK Dons and Ben away to Bromley. Loans going out were David Hicks, Makise Evans, Aaron Pressley, Tyreece Simpson, Ryan Doherty, and Louie Henry. The loan coming in was Brandon Hanlan. And an early return home for Ken Aboh.
Highlight: Unbelievably, a Vertu Trophy win is well low down the list of things that make us go “mmm”. No, our magic moment of the first month of January was a 3-2 win at high-flying Wrexham. No-one saw that coming.
Lowlight: Our only defeat of the month was at home to Wigan. But not being in the FA Cup Third Round always sucks. Not least after we crashed out to Mansfield in Round Two at the end of November 2024.
How we ended the month:
| Pos | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| 15 | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 23 | 24 | 37 |
February
Such a strong end to January would be followed up with a decent start to February. We gave Exeter an early one-goal lead at home, but still stormed back to win 4-1. Things all went bad after that; dumped out of the Vertu Trophy with a narrow home defeat to Birmingham – and successive league defeats (Charlton and inexplicably Crawley Town). What came next was an OKish point indoors against Peterborough and a frustrating home defeat against Burton.
Thankfully, we ended the February schedule with a 1-0 at Shrewsbury. Not that our form was in any way consistent. Well, the one thing that was nearly consistent was our league position.
Player Movements: Kyle Edwards in on a free early on in the month.
Highlight: It has to be the demolition of Exeter City, a team who are responsible for our fair share of struggles over the years. They’re no Northampton Town, but still…
Lowlight: Losing at Crawley and then at home to Burton were both horrendous results. But the real lowlight of February was the club having to call out racist abuse sent to one of our players on social media.
How we ended the month:
| Pos | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| 12 (+3) | 32 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 30 | 32 | 44 |
March
Five points in six league outings for Boro’ in March. That’s the headline, anyway. We fell to a home defeat against Huddersfield on the 1st, before winning at Cambridge on the 4th. That, as you soon find out, was our monthly highlight. After that? Two draws, two defeats. We can be slightly fair and say that our defeat at moneybags Birmingham wasn’t a disgrace. But the league isn’t decided on good efforts and jolly good shows. So, it goes down on paper as “L”.
We don’t really have much to add about March. Felt like
Player Movements: n/a
Highlight: Cambridge. Already said that.
Lowlight: It’s not the result that bothers us here – but our 1-0 defeat at Leyton Orient being played on a Thursday evening, thus leaving us with a completely blank rest of weekend was annoying. Some of us are Spurs fans, y’know. And we didn’t need *them* to sustain us…
How we ended the month:
| Pos | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| 13 (-1) | 38 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 35 | 39 | 49 |
April
Our memory ain’t what it was. But seven points in as many League One outings during April is a stat that suggests we were coasting towards the end of term. Our goal difference took a hit too, with four defeats counterbalancing two wins and a draw. A 3-1 home win to get some sort of revenge over Crawley early in the month rudely interrupted a run of three defeats on the spin. Easter Monday then threw up a 1-0 away win at Bristol Rovers to bring some cheer.
Not sure it’s festive cheer at Easter, mind.
Player Movements: Not movements – but new deals for LJW and Louis Thompson.
Highlight: Our win at Bristol Rovers. It maintained an incredible run we have at their place; our fourth win in five visits – the other trip there ending in a draw.
Lowlight: Home defeats always feel worse than away ones. So, our 3-1 loss indoors against Blackpool rankles with us. Rob Apter’s second-half hattrick blew us away, in fairness
How we ended the month:
| Pos | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| 14 (-1) | 45 | 15 | 11 | 19 | 41 | 49 | 56 |
May
Just the formality of our final league game to report on in May; a credible – and entertaining – draw away to Bolton Wanderers. Harvey White ended the season as top appearance maker with 31 starts and 19 subs, while Dan Kemp‘s top scorer status with 10 goals summed up our struggles in front of goal during the campaign – where we ended with 0.91 goals per game.
Player Movements: Now, with the end of a season comes a flurry of activity. First up off the presses was a new deal for Dan Butler and a pro contract for Ellis Bates. The middle of that month saw our retained list out too. And there were also new/extended contracts unveiled for Jamie Reid, Oliver Reeve and Louie Henry.
On a sad note: Lowlight isn’t a term that does justice to the upsetting news that, in May, we lost George Clarke. A lot of us as Boro’ fans wouldn’t have been around when George was at his most influential. Then again, Boro’ wouldn’t have been around if George hadn’t been an integral figure in those early days. Succeeding Keith Berners as chair in 1979, George was the man who secured Broadhall Way as our home – then forged our path into senior football.
As we all get older, we only ever say goodbye. But that reality won’t ever make it any easier to bear. George will be missed and revered in equal measure by all concerned at our club.
How we ended the month:
| Pos | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| 14 (=) | 46 | 15 | 12 | 19 | 42 | 50 | 57 |
June
As we all know, there’s nothing happening on the pitch to talk about in June. Most of what is taking up our time and attention comes in the form of player movements. And the arrival of Jordan Houghton was first, swiftly followed by the return of a player who’d taken on prodigal son status: Saxon Earley. Other confirmed signings early in the close season would be Chem Campbell and Phoenix Patterson, while Rylee Mitchell and Aaron Pressley headed out.
Oh, and June was when the fixtures came out…
July
The summer rolled on and the preparations for the 2025-26 League One season continued at pace. Early in July, we had the news that our latest batch of scholars was confirmed. Then we turned up the heat (almost literally) by announcing a pre-season tour to Spain. Well, it beats Hitchin. Our pre-season efforts actually started off with a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of QPR, for those who were counting at the time.
New arrivals in July included Beryly Lubala and Jasper Pattenden from Wycombe Wanderers. Then it was the turn of Mathaeus Roberts to come and join us. Has he been seen since? And then we had a flurry of commercial deals; HG extending their back-of-shirt placement being just one example of the dry, corporate detail that sustains a club such as ourselves when up against some big fish in a small pond.
And, before July was out, we still had time to sign Filip Marschall and bin off Louis Appéré.
August
No time to wait in August as the new campaign kicked off just two days into the month. We went north to Blackpool, who are not – historically – a lucky opponent. But we put a marker down from the off, courtesy of a 3-2 win on the sunny north west coast. We then backed this up with a home win against Rotherham. Indeed, the first month of the season would yield a very impressive five wins from six fixtures. The Carabao Cup, however, was less fortuitous.
Player Movements: Our summer recruitment continued with the signings of Jovan Malcolm (permanently) and Gassan Ahadme (loan). New deals were revealed for Jordan Roberts and Carl Piergianni, while Ryan Doherty turned pro.
Highlight: BGR scoring twice in the last three minutes at Port Vale to turn a loss into a win.
Lowlight: Huddersfield is another place we don’t have fond memories of. And, yet again, we endured a defeat that was a bitter pill to swallow. It’d be the only flaw in our August League One schedule. Going out at the first hurdle of the League Cup, meanwhile, is nothing new.
How we ended the month:
| Pos | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| 2 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 15 |
September
The good start to the season didn’t let up as we went into September. So, in many ways, this wasn’t a drill. Unfortunately, the first of the international breaks meant a free weekend – no Boro’, no point paying attention to the results. We started September behind Cardiff right at the top. We ended it behind Bradford. Now, however, we’d end the month having gained one game in hand. Oh, we were unbeaten in the three league matches we did play too.
Big ol’ win in the Vertu Trophy at Wimbledon, before we forget.
Player Movements: If West Ham fans are to be believed, we signed their next great prospect at the start of the month; Lewis Orford joining on loan. And that was that for the window…
Highlight: Coming from behind to claim all three points at Leyton Orient.
Lowlight: In four games across all competitions in September, only Mansfield (A) wasn’t a W.
How we ended the month:
| Pos | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| 2 (=) | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 8 | 22 |
October
Bit of a reality check in October for Boro’. It started in fine fashion with a commanding win at the expense of neighbours Luton Town. But we then found only the Vertu Trophy was serving us wins. That said, we only managed another couple of league outings due to another break for international matches. Neither provided a victory, with our draw and defeat column each swollen by another one. Still, the games in hand accumulated.
Off the pitch,
Player Movements: It was a new deal for Dan Kemp that took the headlines here.
Highlight: Luton, obviously.
Lowlight: Losing to Lincoln was annoying, but failing to beat Bradford indoors felt like it was a missed opportunity – however hard that assignment was.
How we ended the month:
| Pos | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| 4 (-2) | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 10 | 26 |
November
Life started getting tougher for Boro’ in November; both the win count and Goals For column showing slow signs of progress. One win, two draws, and one defeat was the return from the month. Just one goal was scored, although only one was conceded too. So, every cloud. Back to the grumble and the month kicked off with us crashing out of the FA Cup by losing here at home to Chesterfield; they of a lower division.
Arguably, injuries didn’t help as the physio room got a lot busier. But performances also did show signs of tailing off.
Player Movements: He didn’t exactly set the world alight here – and so it was little shock to see Lewis Orford go back to West Ham early. One start, two subs, and a Vertu Trophy goal.
Highlight: It can only be our one win from the month, which was away at Peterborough.
Lowlight: Chesterfield.
How we ended the month:
| Pos | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| 2 (+2) | 16 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 11 | 31 |
December
Easily our least satisfying month of the season so far. Though it is a measure of the progress seen in 2025-26 that our worst month of this season probably mixes it with the *best* of last season. Hyperbole? Maybe. Either way, a big test indoors against Cardiff goes down as a “fail” with the Bluebirds winning 1-0. No disgrace, but the performance was too flat. And, yet, Boro’ then bounce back with a stunning 3-1 win at Stockport. Say what?
That’d be our only win of the month, with two draws either side of Christmas followed up by our most recent exploit: a 2-1 defeat at Cardiff. This time, the performance had reasons to be cheerful. And we can question the abilities of ref Charles Breakspear long into the night. But the result didn’t go our way. So, as we end the year, we have some form to put right and that will be helped, we hope, by a home double-header to kick off January.
Oh, Vertu Trophy. Another cup game. Another defeat to lower league opposition. Next.
Highlight: Stockport away.
Lowlight: The manner of our defeat at home to Cardiff. It felt there was plenty in the tank. It just didn’t get exhibited as the Bluebirds found the all-important goal to secure the points.
How we ended the month:
| Pos | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| 7 (-5) | 21 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 25 | 17 | 36 |
In summary?
What does this all mean? Well, in 2025, we played 54 times – which is the same as 2002, 2005, and 2017. Out of those four, 2025 comes in third for points gained and PPG (as well as amount of wins). It obviously stands out in terms of goals conceded, however.
And it was an improvement on 2024. Year on year, we gained four more wins and seven more league points. The goal count seems like a pointless comparison as we all know that we have a bit of a struggle in scoring them. But we have scored 15 more times in 2025. Surprisingly, we conceded five more in 2025 too. In spite of this, 2025 ranks as one of the better years for our defensive record. And, in terms of the level we’re now at, we absolutely can cut some slack.