An injury time goal from Marlon King rescued a point for ten-man Middlesbrough as they drew 1-1 with Portsmouth.
King strike denies Pompey
An injury time goal from Marlon King rescued a point for ten-man Middlesbrough as they drew 1-1 with Portsmouth at The Riverside.
The draw was barely deserved for Boro as they rarely troubled a Portsmouth back-line - brilliantly marshalled by Sylvain Distin.
Pompey had gone ahead on the half-hour when a short corner was worked to Glen Johnson and he picked out Peter Crouch to volley home.
Boro battled in the second-half but they looked to have come up short, especially when they were reduced to ten-men as Matthew Bates was shown a red card after picking up two bookings.
But in added time, King was there to pounce as David James parried Tony McMahon's header into the Jamaican's path.
Boro even had a chance to win it when Afonso Alves was sent clear, only to fire straight at James - but if he had scored then it would have been a real injustice.
The draw means Portsmouth move out of the bottom three on goal difference, while Boro remain two points adrift of safety.
Dominance
Portsmouth had been good value for the win, dominating throughout and manager Paul Hart will have been furious they allowed victory to escape.
It had all started so well for the visitors, refreshed from a break in Dubai, who had assumed control with two holding midfielders, Sean Davis and Hayden Mullins, restricting the flow in the middle.
David Nugent almost struck early - only Robert Huth's block at point-blank range kept him out after Johnson's powerful surge to the by-line.
Then Crouch attempted one of his notorious overhead kicks after Jermaine Pennant had tempted him with a floated pass - but only succeeded in making contact with David Wheater's face. Fortunately for the Boro defender, he was soon back on his feet.
Nugent was soon cursing his luck even more. First Pennant's deep cross was headed by the England one-cap wonder to Crouch who neatly teed up his strike partner with a return pass for a fierce shot that crashed back off the post with Brad Jones beaten.
Boro tried to relieve the pressure with Stewart Downing having a shot deflected a couple of yards wide, and then Tuncay heading McMahon's corner into the side-netting.
But on the half-hour Portsmouth finally gained the lead. The goal was partially self-inflicted in that Boro fell asleep at a short corner, Johnson picked up the ball and chipped a short pass for Crouch to smack home on the volley from the edge of the box.
Niko Kranjcar almost made Boro pay for more lazy defending, the Croatian bundling through several challenges before seeing his strike deflected over.
Crouch nearly glanced in another before Jeremie Aliadiere and Julio Arca at least gave the home fans some hope for the second half with shots that both deflected for corners.
Middlesbrough desperately needed to up their game after the break but seemed incapable of doing so. As the home crowd's frustration increased, Bates went into the book for a nasty-looking high tackle on Kranjcar.
The Croatian was not hurt though, and soon after landed a dipping free-kick on the roof of the net with Jones apparently beaten.
Changes
Southgate had seen enough and sent on Adam Johnson for Aliadiere, and the 21-year-old hit a stunning effort from 25 yards with his first touch but straight at James.
That inspired Boro and James made a quite brilliant save to claw away Tuncay's header from Johnson's cross just when it seemed the Turkish forward had grabbed an equaliser.
At the other end, Crouch latched on to a long ball but it seemed to take an age to drop and Huth was able to head clear.
There was another glimpse of salvation when Downing was put through on the right King but again James got his positioning just right.
Southgate's final throw of the dice was to send on Afonso Alves - the Brazilian striker had missed the previous game due to illness. But Boro's fate looked sealed however when Bates picked up a second yellow for a blatant dive under challenge by Richard Hughes.
Crouch tried to make the match safe but pulled his shot woefully wide, before Downing brought a smart save out of James again.
Bizarrely, the dismissal inspired Boro and they threatened several times in the closing minutes.
The game was two minutes into injury time when King grabbed his equaliser. James looked to have pulled off another tremendous save to keep out McMahon's header only for King to volley home from eight yards.
Amazingly, Alves could have had an unlikely winner when put through one-on one with James but the England keeper this time had the last word.
Portsmouth's players were left slumped on the ground at the final whistle, wondering how they had let this one slip.
| Middlesbrough |
Team Statistics |
Portsmouth |
| 1 |
Goals |
1 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 7 |
Shots on Target |
3 |
| 8 |
Shots off Target |
5 |
| 6 |
Blocked Shots |
3 |
| 12 |
Corners |
4 |
| 12 |
Fouls |
11 |
| 2 |
Offsides |
1 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
3 |
| 1 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 77.5 |
Passing Success |
78.2 |
| 21 |
Tackles |
22 |
| 71.4 |
Tackles Success |
86.4 |
| 49.3 |
Possession |
50.7 |
| 60.2 |
Territorial Advantage |
39.8 |
|
