New grounds, surprising wins and pre-match press conferences: What I miss most about football and covering Middlesbrough

And what a pivotal victory it could turn out to be, especially if the league is decided on a points-per-game system. If Boro hadn’t won at the Valley, they would have remained in the bottom three.

There’s no glossing over it - this season has been a disappointing one, in which Jonathan Woodgate’s side have recorded just nine wins from 37 league games.

Yet the emotion which poured out after beating a relegation rival was palpable nine weeks ago, a strong away following of 1750 Teessiders jubilant.

They, along with their fellow Boro supporters, will have missed football in some way since then.

It’s the same for journalists too - the travelling, the ups and downs, the ever-changing narrative that shapes a season from one week to the next.

This is my first season covering Boro as a reporter and, despite the results, there are plenty of fond memories to look back on.

Getting to watch, write and talk about football is a great profession - visiting Tottenham’s new state-of-the-art stadium and witnessing a breakneck 3-3 draw at Luton on the opening day of the season have been personal highlights.

It can also be relentless. Long drives to Cardiff and back can take up the whole weekend. Trying to find out who crossed the ball for that player, who scored just seconds after another goal you were writing about, provides a different challenge.

Then there are the always-contentious player ratings which are filed at full-time. How do you determine who gets what mark out of 10 when a injury-hit Boro side has just been thrashed 4-0 at Leeds? How harsh can you be when a Luton team with the worst defensive record in the Championship has just won 1-0 at the Riverside? Was that player at fault for that last-minute goal, or should someone else have done better?

At times it can be frantic, which can quickly lead to frustration when the temperamental wifi drops out at Brentford or your laptop decides to start updating mid-match at Preston.

Yet all those things are part of the experience. Ultimately, the buzz of covering live sport, when anything could happen in the blink of an eye, is what you miss most when it’s taken away.

When the final whistle goes and all loose ends are tied up - full-time verdict posted, headlines up to date, content shared on social media - attention turns to the post-match press conference.

What question should I ask? What do the fans want to know? What would get a good response? Usually the result plays a factor in that, with managers naturally more chatty and forthcoming after a win.

Pre-match press conferences are more easy-going, yet the trips to Darlington’s Rockliffe training base have to be made with time to spare.

If you’re late, Jonathan Woodgate will let you know about it, somewhat jokingly, though he does make a point of waiting outside the interview room and entering bang on time.

When the TV cameras are off, naturally he is more relaxed. “New shoes Joe?,” he asked before one conversation with the written press. Sometimes he can be there for a good half hour and, while often coy on transfer reports, he’s happy to sit and chat.

The build-up to a game is always filled with anticipation. Most away games mean a new ground, new experience and new part of the country to visit.

Some journeys run smoother than others, and thankfully few have been like December’s trip to Nottingham Forest - which involved getting stuck in traffic, failing to find the car park and running over Trent Bridge in the pouring rain in time for the team news.

A standard arrival time ranges between two to three hours before kick-off, time to set things up, skim through the matchday programme and chat with other reporters before it all kicks off.

As previously mentioned, the statistics don’t make great reading for Boro this season. They are the lowest scorers in the Championship and were on a 10-game winless run before that victory at Charlton.

And yet you can never confidently predict what will happen next. That’s part of the appeal.

What were the chances of Boro winning 2-0 at league leaders West Brom after an excellent display to end 2019? Who would have foreseen Djed Spence coming in from the cold to produce a man-of-the-match performance against Charlton? Or that Rudy Gestede would score his first goal for almost two years in a win at Preston on New Years’ Day?

You miss those moments. You miss the challenge of trying to work out if Boro are playing with a back three or a back four when the team sheet comes out at 2pm.

You miss the sense of excitement when Hayden Coulson receives the ball and charges towards an opposition player, or being impressed when Jonny Howson is deployed as a right-sided centre-back and plays like he has done all his life.

You miss the moments that surprise, excite, frustrate and unite. That’s what football brings for all involved.

For now, talk of the game returning feels too premature. Especially when everyone has been avoiding contact for the last two months.

Yet that doesn’t stop us missing football, or longing for it to come back. When it does eventually return, there will be plenty to look forward to.