Battling Boro sting slack Stuttgart
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink fired the visitors ahead against the run of play with 20 minutes gone, but after Stuart Parnaby doubled the lead, the Germans wilted alarmingly before Danijel Ljuboja’s 85th minute free- kick reignited the tie just when it looked as though the Teessiders had killed them off.
Boro boss Steve McClaren was delighted with his side’s performance: “We would have settled for that before the game. You need to be disciplined and that was what we were,” he said.
“We want to do well in the competition, we feel we can, but there is a long way to go.
“It’s the last third of the season and there is still a lot to play for.”
Boro know a clean sheet in the return leg next Thursday, will be enough to seal a showdown with either Roma or Club Brugge.
Boro look well capable of doing that after following up their heroics against Chelsea with a performance which was based on grit and not a little good fortune before the break, but knowhow and common sense after it with Hasselbaink and George Boateng particularly impressive.
Had Stuttgart been able to apply a finish to any of the numerous chances they created before the break the game, and perhaps the tie, might have been theirs. Former Newcastle frontman Jon Dahl Tomasson fired wide at the near post on 16 minutes, strike partner Ljuboja flicked a teasing Jesper Gronkjaer ball across the face of goal when it looked easier to score and both Heiko Gerber and Ljuboja saw shots cannon into team-mates before they could trouble Mark Schwarzer.
Boro were forced into playing on the break, and the one real opportunity they created led to the opening goal with 20 minutes gone.
Emanuel Pogatetz chased down his own high ball and was comfortably beaten to it by Fernando Meira, but his attempted clearance hit the unwitting Boateng and rebounded to Hasselbaink, and he dispatched it past goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand without a second thought.
Boro increased their lead a minute into the second half, when the industrious Boateng powered his way past defender Matthieu Delpierre and surged into the penalty area, where he picked out the fast-arriving Parnaby, who gleefully rattled home his third goal of the campaign.
It could have been even worse for the Germans with Hildebrand having to block a Hasselbaink effort with his legs on 56 minutes, and then saving from Stewart Downing seconds later with the home side in disarray.
Their evening was summed up on 62 minutes when Gronkjaer picked out the unmarked Tomasson at the near post, but his control let him down with the goal at his mercy and the home fans started to leave the ground.
Boateng and then Hasselbaink made way in the dying stages as first Jason Kennedy and then Yakubu joined the fray, but they were dealt a blow with just five minutes remaining.
Ljuboja took charge at a free-kick 20 yards out and hammered an unstoppable shot past Schwarzer to give his side hope for next week.
: Hildebrand, Stranzl (Beck 46), Meira, Delpierre, Gerber, Gronkjaer, Meissner (Gentner 77), Soldo, Hitzlsperger (Gomez 63), Tomasson, Ljuboja.
: Schwarzer, Parnaby, Riggott, Southgate, Pogatetz, Doriva, Davies, Boateng (Kennedy 78), Rochemback, Downing (Johnson 70), Hasselbaink (Yakubu 82).
: A Hamer (Luxembourg)
: FC Thun 1 Hamburg 0, Slavia Prague 2 Palermo 1.
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