Boro 0 Fulham 0

Apr 19 2009 by Stuart Rayner, Sunday Sun

ON the day Middlesbrough billed as “a time for heroes” there was no shortage of bulldog spirit from Gareth Southgate’s relegation battlers.

If you got points for effort in the Premier League, the Teessiders would be three nearer safety than they were yesterday morning. Instead they are three points further away.

In the stands and on the field, there was no shortage of red-shirted have-a-go heroes willing to give their all to keep Boro in the top-flight.

But spirit and defiance can only get you so far.

Particularly if your would-be heroes have all the firepower of a child’s water pistol.

Boro are the worst Premier League team not to have the words “West”, “Bromwich” or “Albion” in their name because they have scored fewer goals than anyone this season, including the Baggies.

The previous week’s victory over Hull City’s toothless Tigers was a beacon of hope on a previously gloomy Teesside landscape – particularly because Boro managed more goals in that game (three) than their previous four put together.

Boro had 24 attempts to increase the pathetic number in their “goals for” column at the Riverside yesterday. But still they are stuck on 25.

Southgate once famously claimed that when England had needed Winston Churchill, Sven-Goran Eriksson gave them Iain Duncan Smith.

So it was no surprise his club did its best to whip the Riverside into a frenzy by the time the teams walked on to the field.

Servicemen and women from RAF Leeming marched around the ground, then the pitch, before the game.

If the Afghanistan-bound troops did not have the supporters ready to fight Fulham on the Redcar beaches, they and the PA announcer made sure a crowd bolstered by cut-price tickets delivered a Tees barrage at kick-off.

The problem was, it inspired Boro to one point when they needed three.

“Search for the Hero” was blared out at half-time by way of a reminder once the squaddies had shown their shooting skills do not extend to football.

What Southgate said in the dressing room is unknown but he certainly caught the mood with his team selection, keeping the attacking quintet of Jeremie Aliadiere, Tuncay Sanli, Stewart Downing, Marlon King and Afonso Alves who inspired them to that crucial home win over Hull.

It was little surprise, then, that the opening stages were in many ways Boro’s finest half-hour of the game.

But by the end of 30 minutes of one-way traffic there was no reason to start making V for victory signs.

Boro had launched plenty of shots, but Mark Schwarzer would have to wait until after the break to remind Boro’s fans of his ability.

Downing led the way when it came to trying his luck from distance, but most of his efforts hit an on-rushing defender before getting more than a couple of yards.

When he got chances to have a pop without it being smothered immediately, one lacked power and direction, the other – a free-kick – curled over from 20 yards.

Boro’s best early move came when Tony McMahon played a well-weighted ball down the touchline to Tuncay.

He crossed for Alves but ex-Newcastle United defender Aaron Hughes was the latest member of the Fulham resistance to throw himself into the line of fire.

The Brazilian smashed a 35-yard free-kick into the wall, then had another shot deflected off Brede Hangeland for a corner.

Close, but no cigar.

Just as Boro were building up a head of steam, Fulham woke up.

Until the 29th-minute all they had managed was Clint Dempsey’s shot which went miles over after a quarter of an hour.

Then Simon Davies got to the byline and crossed a ball which went in front of Bobby Zamora and behind Andrew Johnson as it rolled past the unguarded net.

The ball did the same again five minutes later.

This time Johnson cut inside David Wheater and hit a shot which clipped off the defender and on to the inside of the post before rolling agonisingly to safety. Two minutes from half-time Zamora curled a shot which had Brad Jones scrambling across his goal, presumably not realising it had been hit by the Premier League’s least frightening striker.

The update from the Stadium of Light which brought news of a Sunderland goal slipped through the propaganda net at half-time.

But once the players were back on the field, the mood was upbeat again.

Boro’s players started the second half like they had the first but with one crucial difference – their shots were on target.

It left Schwarzer looking like a French soldier, regularly throwing his hands in the air.

On 47 minutes he brilliantly stretched to keep out Tuncay’s powerful header.

Then he tipped Downing’s long-range effort over for a corner.

He even had to save a cross driven too close to the goal by McMahon.

They kept trying, of course, but it looked as if Shwarzer’s saves had sucked the confidence out of his former team-mates.

The Aussie never really had to break sweat again.

His opposite number and former understudy Jones was less impressive.

He was lucky Peter Walton did not seem to realise knocking a forward over is a free-kick offence.

It spared his blushes after running out of his area, then clattering helplessly into Dempsey.

All the late chances went to Fulham.

Schwarzer might have had some work to do if King’s injury-time pass had picked out substitute Adam Johnson. Instead it hit Tuncay, galloping through the middle.

Dempsey had one of the game’s best chances with seven minutes left after being picked out by Zamora.

He steadied himself but still blazed wide.

Zamora had three opportunities in the dying minutes.

One went over, the next deflected for a corner off Wheater, and Matthew Bates threw himself in the way of the last.

It was perhaps Boro’s most heroic moment of the game.

But unless Southgate’s men can find a little more of that at the other end, we were witnessing the beginning of the end of Boro’s Premier League status.