Vibrant Villa end ’Boro’s home run

Middlesbrough 2

Such has been Middlesbrough's strange season excellent at home, hopeless away it should perhaps have been little surprise that their record should have been undone by a team who had previously scored only four away goals this campaign.

Villa more than doubled their tally in 90 minutes, though thanks in large part to Middlesbrough who handed the visitors their two goals through feeble mistakes.

Stuart Parnaby's error let in Darius Vassell for the first and soon afterwards keeper Mark Schwarzer allowed debutant Joey Gudjonsson's raking free-kick to ricochet in off his arm.

Middlesbrough made it four goals in 11 minutes to pull level through Massimo Maccarone and Jonathan Greening only to go to sleep again after the break and allow Gareth Barry to put Villa back in front.

Vassell grabbed his second of the night with 10 minutes left to send the home crowd surging towards the exits and it was a half-empty Riverside which saw Dion Dublin complete Middlesbrough's humiliation in injury time.

It was perhaps not the best match for Juninho to watch on his first appearance at the Riverside since returning from Brazil, where he has been recovering from a cruciate ligament injury.

Juninho might have had an inkling of what was afoot with the way Stefan Moore went past Franck Queudrue in the opening seconds, his cross only being cleared at full stretch.

Middlesbrough tried to dampen Villa's fire and Maccarone flicked on Geremi's cross with a back heel for Greening only to see the midfielder fire the wrong side of the far post.

Szilard Nemeth then tested Peter Enckelman twice in quick succession before Villa changed the course of the game with a goal in the 24th minute.

Middlesbrough had survived one scare when Gudjonsson a loan signing from Real Betis struck a 30-yard drive a foot too high when Parnaby's error let in Vassell to score.

The full-back stretched to make a back pass to Tony Vidmar but scuffed it and Vassell darted in to toe-poke past Mark Schwarzer.

Nemeth came so close to equalising with a delicious back-heeled flick from Geremi's cross, then Dublin and Moore both had the Boro defence in panic with chances which went begging.

To make matters worse for Boro, Gudjonsson, an Icelandic international though not to be confused with Chelsea's Eidur Gudjohnsen, hammered in a free-kick from all of 40 yards, Schwarzer took his eye off the ball and it span off his arm into the net.

Steve McClaren's men needed something badly to go right for them and two minutes later, in the 33rd minute, it did.

Geremi dinked a ball into the box, Joseph Desire Job headed on and the unmarked Maccarone calmly headed over Enckelman.

Less than two minutes later and it was, incredibly, 2-2. This time Greening picked up possession from Parnaby, slipped past Olof Mellberg's challenge on the 18-yard line and stroked the ball low into the corner.

Villa boss Graham Taylor, no doubt infuriated by his team throwing away the lead, sent his players out in tracksuit tops to jog around the pitch at half-time.

The ploy worked wonders, for a minute after the re-start the visitors took the lead again.

Moore's deep ball was headed out only as far as Thomas Hitzlsperger who fired it towards goal. It struck his own player Barry, who turned to find the ball at his feet and clipped it past Schwarzer.

Nemeth headed wide from edge of six-yard box as Boro sought to get another equaliser but Villa kept pressing and Middlesbrough were indebted to Maccarone clearing off the line from Moore after Johnsen had headed on Barry's outswinging corner.

Maccarone went down in the penalty area under Johnsen's challenge but referee Dermot Gallagher was unmoved, then Dublin steered Barry's pass well wide of the target.

Dublin volleyed a yard over on the turn from 30 yards, before Vassell executed a fantastic swivel and shot from close range which found the top corner.

Three minutes into injury-time Samuel swung over a cross and Dublin completed Middlesbrough's humiliation with a free header.