Paul Gascoigne found himself on the wrong side of the law again as Aston Villa
were knocked off the top of the Premiership.
Gascoigne was booked for the 10th time this season for catching Lee Hendrie in
the face with a flailing arm, one of the few black marks on an impressive Boro
performance.
Villa were forced to defend for most of the game at the Riverside Stadium -
which saw a record crowd of 34,643 - and Middlesbrough should have turned their
dominance into goals.
As it was, the points were shared but with Chelsea winning at Newcastle, Villa
dropped down to second place on goal difference.
But while Boro will be happy at getting their first point since Christmas,
their satisfaction will be tempered by Gascoigne's brush with authority.
He has already been suspended twice this season, after picking up five and
then eight bookings, and today's caution leaves him one yellow card away from a
third ban.
The incident in question came on 44 minutes as Gascoigne raced across to
challenge Hendrie in midfield.
As he tackled the Villa player, Gascoigne's foot made a clean contact with the
ball, sending it flying out of play.
But unfortunately it was the contact part of his arm seemed to make with
Hendrie which was of more concern to referee Uriah Rennie.
Hendrie collapsed to the floor, hands on face, and an incensed Villa manager
John Gregory raced from his bench to the touchline to vent his anger.
Gascoigne, together with several team-mates, pleaded his innocence but their
words fell on deaf ears and Rennie brandished the yellow card.
Whether the booking inhibited Gascoigne was unclear but after half-time, he
failed to have quite as big an impact.
His influence in the opening 45 minutes helped Boro take charge against the
high-flying visitors, who had won on four out of their last five outings before
today.
Boro went into the game on the back of a three-match losing run and memories
of their post-Christmas collapse in 1995-96, when they suffered eight defeats in
a row, were at the front of their fans' minds.
But they showed no signs of their recent poor form as they caused Villa, and
goalkeeper Michael Oakes, all sorts of problems.
The keeper's blushes were saved by captain Gareth Southgate when the England
defender hacked Dean Gordon's shot off the line after Oakes had flapped at
Curtis Fleming's cross.
Oakes redeemed himself when he back-pedalled furiously before palming Hamilton
Ricard's clever chip over, while a header from the ever-dangerous Brian Deane
flashed just wide.
Villa's best opportunities came via Mark Schwarzer errors, the keeper grateful
to see shots from Ian Taylor and Alan Wright fly off target after he had failed
to gather crosses.
Schwarzer did make good saves to deny Julian Joachim and Dion Dublin but for
large parts of the game, he was a virtual spectator as most of the play took
place in the Villa half.
Gregory's men posed little threat after the interval and they had to defend
desperately at times to keep the scores level.
Villa old boy Andy Townsend's goalbound shot was deflected over and Oakes made
a fine stop to deny Neil Maddison from the resulting corner.
Wing-backs Fleming and Gordon saw efforts go wide, while Oakes also had to
make two saves from Gordon.
Hendrie and Joachim had shots deflect narrowly away from Schwarzer's goal on
Villa's rare forays forward but rather than looking for a win, they will have
been relieved to escape with a point.
Teams
Middlesbrough: Schwarzer, Fleming, Festa, Cooper, Pallister,
Gordon, Maddison, Townsend, Gascoigne, Ricard (Beck 84), Deane.
Subs Not Used: Beresford, Stamp, Summerbell, Stockdale.
Booked: Gascoigne, Ricard, Fleming.
Aston Villa: Oakes, Watson, Ehiogu, Southgate, Barry, Wright,
Scimeca (Grayson 77), Taylor, Hendrie, Dublin, Joachim.
Subs Not Used: Draper, Collymore, Vassell, Rachel.
Booked: Barry.
Att: 34,643
Ref: U Rennie (Sheffield).
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