Premiership: Boro, Spurs draw

Middlesbrough 1 Tottenham 1

Franck Queudrue produced a textbook free-kick equaliser to deny Tottenham victory at Middlesbrough.

Queudrue drilled his 68th-minute shot low past Kasey Keller to level after Steffen Iversen had given the visitors a first-half lead.

It was just reward for a Boro side which for long periods enjoyed enough possession to dominate but created too few clear chances to win the game.

Despite a high tempo, open clash, there was little genuine goalmouth action.

Gustavo Poyet fired a third-minute volley into Crossley's midriff, while the impressive Benito Carbone went close for Boro two minutes later when his long-range effort was headed over his own bar by Ben Thatcher.

Then Chris Perry had to block a Alen Boksic piledriver and Anthony Gardner blazed a 25-yard effort over Crossley's bar, but neither keeper was particularly busy.

However, that changed with 32 minutes gone when Matthew Etherington produced a teasing cross from the left which caught the Boro defence flat-footed and Iversen gleefully slammed his shot home off Crossley to open the scoring.

Carbone volleyed into the side-netting four minutes later as the home side stepped up another gear, but Iversen was only denied a second by Ugo Ehiogu's challenge after he had run on to Poyet's long ball and rounded Crossley.

Boro stepped up a gear after the break, and Ledley King survived a penalty appeal after Boksic controlled the ball on to his arm.

At the other end, Etherington was denied a second goal for the visitors when Crossley did well to block his far post effort and Poyet rattled the bar with a close-range header from the resulting corner.

But the tide started to turn and after Boksic had tested Keller with a shot from a tight angle, Boro finally forced their way back into the game.

Gardner was penalised for a push on Boksic 25 yards out and after Carbone and Jonathan Greening had run over the ball, Queudrue smashed an unstoppable free-kick past Keller's dive and into the bottom left corner of the net.

Substitute David Murphy flashed a header wide from a 71st-minute Carbone corner as the balance of play shifted heavily in Boro's favour.

However, Ehiogu got away with a slip six minutes from time when substitutes Simon Davies and Teddy Sheringham combined to feed Etherington, but his drive was blocked by Crossley and smuggled away by his defenders.

Sheringham was only inches away from reaching Etherington's 90th-minute cross, but Boro survived to hang on to their point.