Middlesbrough scrape past Graz

Middlesbrough 2 Graz AK 1 (Middlesbrough win 4-3 on aggregate)

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink fired Middlesbrough into the last 16 of the UEFA Cup as manager Steve McClaren’s troops were forced to come from behind to clinch victory.

It was one of Boro’s least impressive continental performances on their debut European campaign – but goals from Hasselbaink and teenager James Morrison were enough to secure their place in the next round.

It is abundantly clear, though, they will have to show a stark improvement next month in their double-header against Sporting Lisbon if they are to make any further progress.

Before the game McClaren had spoken at length about the need for concentration if his side were to advance in the competition.

The Austrian champions were without leading scorer Roland Kollmann following his dismissal in last week’s 2-2 first-leg draw.

They conceded their first goal on home soil in Europe this season in just over eight minutes.

After keeping clean sheets against Banik Ostrava, Lazio and Partizan Belgrade, it was a 19-year-old Croatian who undid Boro.

Primarily, though, it was a catalogue of errors which led to their downfall, initially in midfield as a string of passes unravelled the home side.

It culminated with Rene Aufhauser threading a ball through to Mario Bazina, who scored one of his side’s goals at the Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium last week.

With Mark Schwarzer slow off his line, and his defence slow to react, it allowed Bazina to flick a weak effort which was initially going nowhere.

Covering skipper Gareth Southgate should then have hacked the ball into the stands as he backtracked, but his limp effort simply teed up Bazina to drive the ball home from an acute angle.

The Austrians continued to take the game to the home side, until Boro roused themselves and levelled the scores in the 19th minute through Morrison.

Hasselbaink did the spadework just outside the area, and although an attempted pass to Joseph-Desire Job was diverted off Mario Tokic, the ball found its way to Stewart Downing who proceeded to take up the cause.

The England international winger skipped past Gernot Plassnegger and drilled in a shot goalkeeper Andreas Schranz could only tip into the path of Morrison, who thundered home from six yards – his fourth goal of the season, and his third in the UEFA Cup.

Remarkably, after such an early flurry of activity to leave the tie balanced on the proverbial knife-edge, neither side managed a shot on goal for the remainder of a half dominated by a biting, swirling wind, combined with a mixture of sleet, snow and hail showers.

McClaren made a double change at the break, adopting a seemingly more defensive stance by replacing Job and Morrison with Stuart Parnaby and Doriva, playing with a back five and with Hasselbaink on his own up front.

McClaren effectively invited the Austrians to take the game on, and for a while they appeared ready to pick up the gauntlet, until Boro took the lead out of nothing.

Boudewijn Zenden, Ray Parlour and Doriva combined 10 yards in front of the Graz area with a neat line of passes before the latter then probed forward with a ball through to Hasselbaink.

The Dutch striker left Tokic on the seat of his shorts on the edge of the area before lashing home a 15-yard drive in off the body of Schranz for his 13th goal of the season, his third in Europe and his second against Graz.

Boro then comfortably played out the remainder of the game, with the visitors failing to trouble Schwarzer any further.

However, there was one sour note for McClaren in the closing stages as Downing was stretchered off with a hamstring injury.

Boro are at home to the Portuguese side in the first leg of the second knockout round match on March 10, with the return taking place in Lisbon seven days later.