Middlesbrough steal victory from Newcastle

Middlesbrough 1

Newcastle United 0

Geremi dealt Newcastle's remote hopes of the Premiership title a potentially fatal blow by snatching the derby honours for Middlesbrough.

The Cameroon midfielder's 62nd-minute header decided a pulsating contest in which there was little to choose between the sides and ended United's nine-game unbeaten run in front of a record 34,814 crowd at the Riverside Stadium.

And the win was no fluke as the Teessiders, inspired by the superb Juninho and the miserly Gareth Southgate, gave as good as they got to end Sir Bobby Robson’s recent stranglehold in this fixture.

In a game of few chances, it was Boro who created the more promising, although they had to defend to the bitter end as wave after wave of Newcastle attacks came their way.

The home supporters greeted the final whistle with rapturous applause, although referee Andy D'Urso was surrounded by furious United players as he left the pitch.

Newcastle arrived at the Riverside intent on recording a sixth successive north-east derby victory to further their Champions League hopes, and proudly defending a record of just one defeat in 14 Premiership outings.

And the fact Boro had only one win to their name - the 3-1 defeat of Sunderland at the Stadium of Light - in their last nine, gave them even greater cause for optimism.

There was no lack of adventure from either side in a game which switched rapidly from end to end before the break without either goalkeeper being forced to make a genuine save.

Gary Speed and Kieron Dyer were working tirelessly in the middle of the field, but with Southgate expertly marshalling his defence.

Alan Shearer and Craig Bellamy saw little of the ball in dangerous positions.

United's best chances both fell to Dyer, but he appeared to have left his shooting boots behind, failing to trouble Mark Schwarzer on either occasion.

The home side enjoyed the better openings as Juninho, making his first start since returning to the club in the summer, reminding the Teesside faithful of his trickery and vision in an excellent 45 minutes.

The Brazilian picked out Stuart Parnaby’s 26th-minute run, the full-back forcing Aaron Hughes to get in a vital challenge to take the ball of Michael Ricketts’ toe in front of goal.

He opened up the Newcastle defence once again four minutes later to put Massimo Maccarone in on goal, but this time Middlesbrough-born Jonathan Woodgate got in a last-ditch challenge to dispossess him.

Newcastle again started the brighter after the break with Southgate slicing a Laurent Robert cross over his own crossbar and the Frenchman then firing wide from 20 yards when a short pass would have played Shearer in.

But despite the visitors continuing to stretch the home defence to its limits, it was Boro who still posed the greater threat.

Hughes got in another vital block to deny Maccarone on 49 minutes and Speed got in the way of a Geremi piledriver six minutes later.

The breakthrough did not arrive until the 62nd minute when, after Franck Queudrue had been allowed time and space to cross from the left, Geremi headed past Shay Given.

Parnaby squandered a glorious opportunity to make it 2-0 three minutes later when he blazed high over after being put in by George Boateng and Maccarone wasted another chance when he failed to pick out a man with his cross with 20 minutes remaining.

Robson threw on Hugo Viana and Shola Ameobi for Speed and Robert as time ran down.

But it was Saturday's goal hero Olivier Bernard who almost dragged his side back into it on 79 minutes when he ran on to Bellamy’s pass and cut inside before firing inches wide.

Queudrue had a chance to test Given once again with five minutes remaining when Titus Bramble was harshly penalised by D'Urso for a foul on Michael Ricketts, but he drove his free-kick into the wall and Boateng hammered the rebound over.

Boro were forced to defend for their lives as the game drew to a tense conclusion, but despite a few scares along the way, they managed to clinch the points.