Boro held to stay in trouble

Middlesbrough were held to a goalless stalemate by Wigan, which does their survival hopes no favours.

Game of few chances at The Riverside

Relegation haunted Middlesbrough were held to a goalless stalemate by Wigan at The Riverside on Saturday which does their survival hopes no favours. The result means Boro have gone 14 games without a win and stay in the bottom two. The game saw precious few chances, with both keepers called upon to make just one save of note in the first period. Wigan keeper Chris Kirkland kept out Stewart Downing's low effort before Brad Jones made a decent save to push away a Charles N'Zogbia free-kick at the other end. Jones did not have to make a save in the second period, with substitute Hugo Rodallega having Wigan's best chance but blasting over, while Gary O'Neil then forced Kirkland into a low save with a long range effort late on. The game saw former Boro midfielder Lee Cattermole at the centre of controversy on his return to the Riverside. Cattermole's 16th minute challenge led to Boro's French midfielder Didier Digard being stretchered off and taken to hospital while he was also at the centre of incidents which saw O'Neil and Afonso Alves booked for diving. But the bare facts from an unnecessarily fractious encounter were that Boro failed to score for their fifth league game in a row.

Best chances

Downing and O'Neil had the best chances to ease Gareth Southgate's pain but Wigan were generally full value for a point and referee Mike Dean appeared to get the big decisions correct. The omens had not been good given Boro's recent travails and the visitors' woeful record of just three goals in seven league starts, and true to form it would take half an hour for either team to fashion a shot on target. Southgate, who had the luxury of naming an unchanged team for only the second time this season, would have been happier with the opening spell in which Downing was prominent but let down by his final ball. Wigan, lacking the creative influence of the injured Antonio Valencia, were nowhere in the opening quarter-hour but the face of the game changed in the 16th minute when Cattermole's challenge left Digard pole-axed. The Frenchman was stretchered off after lengthy treatment and Boro fans vented their fury upon their former hero, despite television replays suggesting referee Dean had been right to let him off. Later updates confirmed Digard had been taken straight to hospital for tests on a thigh injury - worryingly, the same injury that had ruled the player out for a large portion of last season. Boro had their best chance of the game in the 34th minute when Downing made space just inside the left side of the box and fired a low shot which was tipped out for a corner by the alert Chris Kirkland. And from the resulting corner the ball also eventually fell to Downing who this time drilled a low effort just past the post to Kirkland's right as Boro suddenly looked worthy of a half-time lead.

N'Zogbia effort

But Wigan also came close three minutes later when N'Zogbia spun in a left-footed free-kick from the edge of the Boro box which the alert Jones did well to palm away. Boro's indiscipline cost them dear in first-half injury time when they had two players booked for diving - first O'Neil who stumbled under the attentions of Emmerson Boyce and Cattermole. And minutes later Alves fell on the half-way line close to Cattermole - who had already been booked - and this time the Brazilian was yellow-carded, with replays again suggesting Dean had been right on both occasions. Desperate for three points to stop his side's slump towards the bottom of the table, Southgate introduced extra strikers Jeremie Aliadiere and Tuncay Sanli early in the second half. The Turkish striker certainly added some urgency up front and was unlucky not to wriggle free of Titus Bramble in the Wigan box as the home side's anxiety for a winner increased. Michael Brown missed a difficult chance to give the visitors the lead in the 66th minute when substitute Rodallega found space to fire in a cross from the right and Brown's volley in front of goal squirted narrowly wide. Alves poked a shot into Kirkland's arms in the 73rd minute then Downing nipped in to dispossess Mario Melchiot and break through on goal before the Wigan skipper redeemed himself with a fantastic saving tackle. But Wigan would have a golden chance of their own five minutes later when the lively Rodallega latched onto a long ball but could only steer an attempted lob over Jones' bar. Southgate's hope finally ran out in the 86th minute when O'Neil drove a long-range shot goalwards only to see his effort deflected to safety off keeper Kirkland's legs.

Middlesbrough	Team Statistics	Wigan Athletic
0	Goals	0
0	1st Half Goals	0
2	Shots on Target	3
3	Shots off Target	8
1	Blocked Shots	5
5	Corners	1
8	Fouls	15
3	Offsides	4
2	Yellow Cards	4
0	Red Cards	0
76.7	Passing Success	67.5
26	Tackles	18
65.4	Tackles Success	77.8
57.2	Possession	42.8
42.4	Territorial Advantage	57.6