O'Neill sorry for Southgate

Martin O’Neill expressed sympathy for Gareth Southgate after Aston Villa all but condemned Middlesbrough to the drop.

Tuncay had given Middlesbrough the lead at the Riverside with an overhead kick but the home side allowed Villa back into it as John Carew secured a 1-1 draw.

Southgate was booed from the pitch at the final whistle and Boro’s only hope is to win at West Ham and hope Villa beat Newcastle and Hull lose by a hefty margin to champions Manchester United.

O’Neill said: “I have great regard for Gareth Southgate and I think he has approached his managership full of integrity and will learn from this experience.

“He is an excellent manager in the making without question and I do feel for him of course and I know something of what he will be feeling.

“He is working with a wonderful chairman and I think Gareth Southgate will be a quality manager.”

O’Neill admitted that Villa’s first-half performance had been disappointing.

“It was a tough old game and we didn’t play well enough in the first half,” he added.

“We were much better in the second half and it was always possible we would get the second goal as Middlesbrough pressured to regain the lead and we had a lot of chances.

“Our recent performances have not been bad, we just have not had the results to go with it.”