Southampton 0 Middlesbrough 0 - report

Southampton 0 Middlesbrough 0

Middlesbrough drew a blank on the south coast but £8m new boy Massimo Maccarone showed that, with the right service, he will score goals in the Premiership.

Sadly for boss Steve McClaren, though, his new striker with a big reputation received only two decent passes all game in a Boro side that is still set up to build from the back.

At the start of a brand new campaign it was the same old negative story for the boys from the Riverside who ended last term with four successive blanks.

And in the end at St Mary’s, it required a stunning save from Mark Schwarzer to prise a point out of industrious Southampton.

Aussie Schwarzer flew through the air 15 minutes from time to cling onto Anders Svensson’s meaty header from a Fabrice Fernandes cross.

So the club which spent just £2million on a single new signing in the summer finished up all square with visitors who invested more than 10 times that amount on four big-name international stars.

Saints boss Gordon Strachan even decided to leave his lone new recruit, Swedish defender Michael Svensson, on the bench while McClaren had to do without Brazilian Juninho through injury.

But Maccarone was given his start along with Cameroon ace Geremi and Dutchman George Boateng, and with just two minutes on the clock he nearly scored.

Boro cleared a free-kick with Schwarzer’s throw-out and winger Carlos Marinelli - an even younger prospect than Maccarone - gave the shaven-headed 22-year-old striker from Empoli the chance to outstrip his marker and burst into the area.

Lucky for Saints, keeper Paul Jones was at his sharpest so early in the season and dashed out bravely to take the ball from the Italian’s eager feet in a brave swoop.

And it was a similar story 20 minutes later when Marinelli again pushed the ball through, Maccarone rifled in a shot and Wales star Jones saved well, diving to his left.

Maccarone had to live on crumbs after that - especially when Slovakia’s Szilard Nemeth replaced Noel Whelan in the second half and seemed to want to walk the ball in on his own.

Three times he was cut out in the six-yard box by Saints defenders who were so glad he had over-elaborated.

After 76 minutes of toil Maccarone, scorer of a spectacular goal against England’s Under-21 team last season which earned him a full international debut against Sven-Goran Eriksson’s men soon afterwards, trudged off to be replaced by crafty old stager Alen Boksic.

The classy Croat almost broke the deadlock with a thundering shot into the side-netting, but by then Schwarzer had needed to perform his rescue act - and he repeated it in stoppage time by stopping the willing Chris Marsden’s blasted effort.

Saints, in fact, had a string of plausible chances as Marsden and Anders Svensson got the better of Boateng and Geremi in midfield for much of the contest.

Boro wanted to set the pace, but Marinelli’s guile apart they showed precious few ideas.

They were lucky when Anders Svensson’s through-ball left Marian Pahars in the clear after 16 minutes only for the Latvian, who surprisingly passed a fitness test before kick-off on a groin injury, to lose control with a miserable first touch and dribble the ball into Schwarzer’s arms.

James Beattie, who notched 14 goals last season despite two months out with ankle trouble, looked a lively presence again and was unlucky not to score twice.

His header from a free-kick flew just over and then he ghosted in from deep to beat the offside trap but found the angle too tight for his shot after he had knocked the ball past the keeper.