Southampton bag vital away win

Middlesbrough 1 Southampton 3

Southampton striker Peter Crouch produced two magnificent finishes at Middlesbrough to drag his side out of the Barclays Premiership relegation zone.

The six foot seven inch frontman powered home a trademark header on the hour mark and then clinched the points with a cultured right-footed finish seven minutes later as Boro’s misery continued with as fourth successive defeat.

While this was Southampton’s first away league win of the season, the Teessiders have now taken only 10 points from the last 36 on offer.

They have slipped off the pace in the race for European qualification and today continued a season-long theme of failing to follow up a UEFA Cup game with a league victory.

Furthermore, they have now won only once in 11 attempts on a Sunday this season, and today thousands of supporters left the stands long before the final whistle.

They fell behind to Andreas Jakobsson’s opener on just 14 minutes, and although Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink briefly quelled the frustrations of the home fans with a 41st-minute leveller, it turned into another day to forget for the home side.

Boro went into the game having won just two of their last 11 league outings; by contrast, Southampton’s 4-0 home defeat at the hands of Manchester United in the FA Cup quarter-finals had been their only reverse in their last seven fixtures in all competitions.

While Boro were often lethargic, Saints defended doggedly and threatened not only through Crouch’s aerial presence, but also through the trickery of pacy striker Henri Camara.

Zenden and Stewart Downing tried desperately to spark Boro into life, with Hasselbaink going through his full repertoire of tricks, but with Stuart Parnaby struggling to keep Camara at bay and Szilard Nemeth, Doriva and Joseph-Desire Job virtually anonymous while Jamie Redknapp prospered in midfield, the unrest in the stands grew throughout the first half.

The visitors took the lead after 14 minutes when Olivier Bernard headed down for Camara who crossed to the far post for Jakobsson to claim his second goal of the season with the home defence calling in vain for an offside flag.

Mark Schwarzer then had to save smartly from Camara at his near post.

However, Middlesbrough were back level after 41 minutes when Niemi spilled Zenden’s long-range shot and Job scuffed the loose ball across the face of goal for the unmarked Hasselbaink to score.

It should have been 2-1 within seconds, Nemeth wasting Downing’s good work down the left by firing against the goalkeeper’s legs, but that would have been harsh on Southampton.

Boro were no less wasteful after the break as they repeatedly gave the ball away.

Even the normally reliable Gareth Southgate contributed to the malaise with an aimless clearing header from Rory Delap’s long ball which allowed Camara to earn his side a corner.

Crouch powered a towering header just wide of the post from Graeme Le Saux’s delivery, with ‘keeper Schwarzer rooted to his spot.

Niemi had to maintain his concentration four minutes later to collect Doriva’s long-range effort with the red shirts ready to pounce on any error.

The home side were starting to build up a momentum, and it took a fine save from Niemi to deny Nemeth on 58 minutes after he had accepted Zenden’s pass and created a shooting opportunity for himself.

However, just as it looked as though Boro were ready to score their second, they were hit again in the most predictable fashion.

Bernard’s driven 60th-minute cross was tailor-made for Crouch to climb high above Southgate and direct a header into the top corner to restore his side’s lead.

Boro fell apart and Camara fired high and wide after Schwarzer had parried Crouch’s 65th-minute shot, and the Australian goalkeeper escaped seconds later when he allowed Le Saux’s shot to get away from him.

But the respite was short-lived and Crouch made sure of Southampton’s win with 67 minutes gone, pulling away from his marker to sidefoot home Le Saux’s cross.

The home side were in some disarray, although they could have forced their way back into it with 15 minutes remaining had Job not skied his effort from Hasselbaink’s pass over the bar.

Boro struggled to make any further impression as the clock ran down to complete another black post-European afternoon.

Steve McClaren’s men were booed from the pitch as the travelling supporters prepared for the long journey home with plenty to celebrate and renewed hope of beating the drop.