Middlesbrough stutter as Xanthi stage unlikely fightback
After seeing the Teessiders take a 28th-minute lead through George Boateng in a first half dominated by the Barclays Premiership side, Ioannis Matzourakis’ men rallied to such an extent that they looked like claiming a draw until French defender Jacques Paviot deflected Mark Viduka’s 83rd-minute shot into his own net.
Xanthi did not score during their only previous European adventure, but might have done so four times inside six second-half minutes as Boro crumbled at the back.
Had midfielder Levan Maghradze or striker Stavros Labriakos taken either of the two chances they each had to level, Steve McClaren’s men might have headed for Greece in a fortnight’s time with a tricky game in prospect.
As it is, they will do so knowing they should progress comfortably, but also that they cannot afford slip-ups against a side which at times cut them open with embarrassing ease.
The 14,191 spectators who braved a miserable night at the Riverside Stadium left happy enough with the result, but knowing things could have taken a nasty turn had one of those chances been taken.
Boro enjoyed several thrilling nights in last season’s UEFA Cup when they rubbed shoulders with and beat Lazio and Partizan Belgrade and enjoyed two epic battles with Sporting Lisbon, who went on to make the final.
But there was little of that excitement on offer at the Riverside Stadium on a dreary Teesside night as McClaren took the calculated risk of resting skipper Gareth Southgate, Franck Queudrue and Aiyegbeni Yakubu, with Fabio Rochemback ineligible.
Massimo Maccarone, one of his side’s goalscoring heroes in the 2-1 win over Arsenal on Saturday, squandered an early chance when he latched on to Giannis Papadimitriou’s woefully underhit back-pass and rounded keeper Petr Pizanowski, only to run the ball out of play.
But the Italian did play a major role in his side’s 28th-minute opener when he took advantage of the hapless Papadimitriou’s slip to fire in a shot which Pizanowski could only beat away to Boateng, who made no mistake with the follow-up.
Boro managed to ease themselves back into the game, but they needed a helping hand from the unfortunate Paviot to make the pressure count when he deflected Viduka’s shot into his own net.
: M Schwarzer, A Xavier, U Ehiogu, M Bates, E Pogatetz, R Parlour (74 J Morrison), G Doriva, G Boateng, A Johnson (60 F Queudrue), M Maccarone (74 A Yakubu), M Viduka
: P Pizanowski, V Torossidis (67 D Quintana), V Sikov, J Paviot (87 V Kazakis), G Papadimitriou, L Maghradze (77 S Leonardo), P Antzas, M Emerson, F Andrade, D Luciano, S Labriakos
: S Messner
Hibernian were denied by the woodwork twice in a goal-less first leg of their UEFA Cup first-round tie against Dnipro at Easter Road.
With just moments remaining of a hard-fought first 45 minutes, midfielder Scott Brown drove his shot from 16 yards off the post before the ball flew to safety.
Late in the second half, substitute Ivan Sproule, on earlier for Michael Stewart, struck the post with his right-footed effort.
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