Fearful Boro leave Southgate fretting

IT is still too early for frantic supporters to adopt the chewed-fingernail pose so beloved by macabre television companies, but already Middlesbrough is a club racked by fear.

The Teessiders languish one place off the foot of the table after their winless run was extended to 14 games with this drab draw. And the really bad news? Liverpool are the visitors next week.

Apart from a low first-half effort from Stewart Downing and a late drive from Gary O’Neil, Southgate’s men showed little attacking flair and with pressure mounting he admitted it was time to throw caution to the wind.

“We showed a little bit of fear and we’ve got to be a little bit braver,” Southgate said. “We’ve got enough attacking talent on the field to pose questions and although we gave everything we didn’t have enough.

“We’ve got to work with these players and encourage them and get the best we possibly can out of them. It’s not that they don’t want to do it — they know what they want to do but it’s not happening for them.

“Every one of the players and staff is up for the fight. We know it’s going to be extremely tough and everybody outside our club thinks we are gone but there’s a lot of football to be played and points to go for.”

But Southgate must fear the worst after another grim display which brought smatterings of resigned boos from the home crowd and which also saw the loss of Frenchman Didier Digard to injury.

Digard spent the night in hospital for tests on an injured thigh after a challenge by former Boro midfielder Lee Cattermole which incensed the home fans but which looked on television replays to be fair.

Afterwards Wigan manager Steve Bruce sprang to Cattermole’s defence. “With Lee being from here the crowd went up but it was a perfectly fair challenge and I’ve got to compliment the referee for handling it well,” he said. “It’s unfortunate but these things happen in football.”

MIDDLESBROUGH (4-5-1): Jones 6, Hoyte 6, Wheater 6, Huth 6, Pogatetz 6, O’Neil 6, Digard 5 (Walker 23, 5), Arca 5 (Aliadiere 52, 5), A Johnson 5 (Tuncay 62, 6), Downing 7, Alves 5.

Subs Not Used: Turnbull, Emnes, Bates, McMahon. W

WIGAN (4-4-2): Kirkland 6, Melchiot 6, Boyce 7, Bramble 7, Figueroa 7, Watson 5, Brown 6, Cattermole 7, N’Zogbia 6, Kapo 5 (Rodallega 61, 5), Zaki 5 (Sibierski 75, 5).

Subs Not Used: Kingson, Edman, Koumas, Cywka, Routledge.

REFEREE: Mike Dean (Wirral) 6: Rather card-happy, although he correctly judged Cattermole’s tackle on Digard was fair.

MATCH RATING: * The most predictable, and ponderous, Premier League result of the season.