Middlesbrough 2-2 Man Utd - As It Happened

Peep! Peep! Peeeep!

90 mins (+4) What a stop from Van der Sar! Just as time appeared to be ticking out on this pulsating fixture, Tuncay received the ball with his back to goal, nudged the ball to his left to get away from his marker, and spun into the area to find himself one-on-one with the keeper. It looked for a second like he had succeeded in dancing around the keeper, but Van der Sar somehow managed to hook the ball with his foot as Tuncay went around him. That would have been some way to finish the game.

90 mins (+1) Jeremie Aliadiere comes off for Adam Johnson as the clock ticks over into time added on. United continue to press without creating an opening.

88 mins You really can't fault either side for their approach to this game. Even now Boro are still looking for a win, and Wes Brown does well to block Aliadiere's shot across goal from 12 yards out. Aliadiere might have done better by laying the ball off to Tuncay, but he had a sight of goal and it was actually a pretty decent effort.

87 mins Rooney so nearly gives United the lead, glancing Park's cross from the right across goal, but Schwarzer just about manages to block it and his defence eventually hacks it clear. I have to hold my hands up - I questioned the decision to bring on Park for Tevez, but he's been excellent.

85 mins Very clever - if somewhat reprehensible - foul from O'Neill on Ronaldo. The Portuguese had bamboozled O'Neill and a team-mate as he tricked his way in from the left, and O'Neill very intentionally clipped his heel just before he could make it into the area. He picks up a booking, and a suspension, for his troubles, but Downing gets Giggs' cross away.

83 mins Paul Scholes lofts a shot over the bar from 20 yards after Andrew Taylor had only half-cleared Rooney's cross from the right.

81 mins Arca nicks the ball off Ronaldo with a well-timed sliding challenge as the Portuguese surges towards the Boro area. There hasn't been much goalmouth action since Rooney's goal, but United are definitely in the ascendancy.

78 mins Southgate replaces Alves with Tuncay, which seems a shame given how well he had been playing (and the fact he was on a hat-trick).

76 mins Hairy moment for United as Van der Sar slips onto his backside after coming out of his area to clear a back pass. Alves was bearing down on him, but even from his seated position Van der Sar manages to flick the ball away from the striker with the outside of his boot and United clear.

GOAL! Middlesbrough 2-2 Man Utd (Rooney, 74 mins) And they won't stay the same, because Wayne Rooney has just brought United back level. Ji-Sung Park cut in from near the goal line on the right and pulled the ball back to Rooney, who was fortunate to see his shot deflect up off the shin of a Boro defender and over Schwarzer.

72 mins "I just want to give my heartfelt appreciation to all Boro fans out there," hurrahs Arsenal fan Matt Coman. "It may be a tiny chance, but you've given us one!" Wouldn't want to rain on your parade Matt, but I suspect Chelse are the side most likely to benefit if things stay the same here.

69 mins Ferguson uses his last substitution replacing Rio Ferdinand with Gerard Pique. That's both center-halves off now, and it's not so hard to understand why; United's defence have looked very shaky without Vidic.

68 mins Boateng gets a booking for a foul on Evra, but United are all over the place right now. Once again they completely fail to deal with a Downing cross from the left, but there are no Boro players chasing in to take advantage.

66 mins And now Owen Hargreaves enters in place of John O'Shea. It's a decision that almost backfires immediately, too, as Downing gets the better of Hargreaves with a surge of pace down the left inside channel, only to see his shot blocked by Van der Sar at the near post.

64 mins Slightly confusing change from Ferugson here as he brings on Ji-Sung Park to replace Carlos Tevez. Gary O'Neil charges down a Paul Scholes effort from about 20 yards out.

61 mins It's definitely snow coming down now as United try to get a grip on this game. Pogatetz, who has been immense thus far, cuts out another through-ball from Ronaldo.

58 mins Oh my word, it really should have been three here for Middlesbrough. Aliadiere was unmarked as he met a cross six yards from goal, but he chose to flick his header across goal to Alves, and the Brazilian is this far from getting his head to it with an open goal at his mercy two yards out.

GOAL! Middlesbrough 2-1 Man Utd (Alves, 56 mins) What has been unleashed here? Alves was supposed to be struggling to adapt to life in the Premier League, but that was another perfectly taken poacher's finish from the Brazilian striker. United's defence seemed to lose their concentration, as Alves chased onto a through-ball near the penalty spot, and he curled his finish around Van der Sar with aplomb. Has the title race just been re-opened at the Riverside?

55 mins Wayne Rooney picks up a yellow card for sliding in on Schwarzer late after he had gathered a loose ball on the edge of his area. It's definitely snow, if you were interested.

52 mins I can't actually tell if it's rain or snow coming down, but the skies have opened at the Riverside as Pogatetz lumps the ball behind for Boro. David Wheater gets Giggs' cross clear.

50 mins Ohhhhh, Alves looked to have put himself in an excellent position inside the United box as he tamed a long, angled ball forward from Taylor with ease inside the United area, but he gets the ball stuck under his feet as he tries to go past Ferdinand, and the United defender clears.

47 mins Pogatetz gets Giggs' corner away with a thumping header. Here's hoping this game can continue in the present vein ...

46 mins What a start to the second half! Within the space of a minute both teams have very presentable chances to take the lead. First Wes Brown accidentally flicks the ball to Alves about five yards out from the United goal, and he pulls the ball across to Pogatetz, but United manage to charge down his shot and clear. United then break at speed, and Rooney finds Tevez unmarked just outside the back post about five yards from goal, but Schwarzer manages to block his shot around the post.

That Penalty shout Sky have just been showing replays of United's penalty shout at the end of the first half (44 mins), and I have to say they do have a case. Taylor is going to ground as he tries to block Ronaldo's shot, and his arm is up above his head when the ball hits it.

Statistical stress Archi Campbell has a drum to bang. "Has there ever been a more pointless stat than 'possession in the last 5 minutes'," he demands. "If one team has had more possession in a 5 minute period, surely anyone watching the match would be able to see it without being told."

Peepety-peeeep! And, after one more corner for United, Riley draws the first half to a close. It's been surprisingly tight and, I have to say, rather gripping. Boro have been true to the spirit of Southgate's 4-3-3, attacking United at every opportunity, and on balance I'd say they've been the better team. I'd still expect United to win, mind - there's too much quality in that attacking line for them not to score another goal at some point.

44 mins United finally manage to get the ball out of their half for more than 30 seconds and Ronaldo is livid at Riley's failure to award a penalty after Andrew Taylor appears to use a hand to deflect his shot from the edge of the box wide of the right-hand post. Giggs's corner falls to Rooney, but his shot is charged down.

41 mins The bad news for Boro fans is that their team has scored more than one goal only once in the last 16 matches. The good news is they still have United firmly on the back foot.

39 mins So nearly a second goal for Boro, Van der Sar having to look sharp to parry Downing's volley around the post after Boro's top scorer found himself completely unmarked 10 yards out. The corner isn't dealt with particularly effectively either, but Riley blows his whistle for a foul on Van der Sar.

37 mins It has to be said at this stage that Boro have actually been the better side for most of this game. Van der Sar struggles to tip over a Stewart Downing corner from the right, before Ferdinand hacks away the ensuing corner.

GOAL! Middlesbrough 1-1 Man Utd (Alves, 34 mins) Well, well, well - we might just have a game on here. O'Neill floated a long ball forward towards Aliadiere from inside his own half, and the Frenchman weighted his flick into the path of the onrushing Alves, who dispatched his low shot across Van der Sar and into the back of the net with the utmost composure for his first goal in a Boro shirt.

31 mins Well, I'm not sure how much he's done for Boro in open play, so far, but that Alves certainly knows how to deliver a set piece. From 30 yards out he sends a vicious, swerving, dipping free-kick over the United wall, but in the end it's a bit too close to Van der Sar, and the keeper manages to claim the loose ball after initially parrying the shot into the ground.

29 mins And now it's Ronaldo's turn to blast wide when he should have done better. To be fair he had earned the chance all on his own, accelerating to simply breeze past three Boro defenders as they tried to challenge him twenty yards out on the left. He never set himself properly for the shot, though, failing to get his left foot around the ball and belting it wide of the near post.

26 mins O'Neill whirls another ball in from the left as Boro continue to press, but Van der Sar claims without much bother.

23 mins Absolutely staggering miss from Jeremie Aliadiere. Boro broke as United's players were busy being outraged by Mike Riley's failure to whistle for a foul on Patrice Evra by Gary O'Neill, and quickly found themselves with a man up on the United defence. Downing played Aliadiere into about 10 yards of space as he rushed into the right side of the area, but instead of simply blasting the ball straight forwards into the net as Van Der Sar scrambled across, Aliadiere tried to screw the ball back across himself, and ended up pulling it a long way wide of the left-hand post.

22 mins Ronaldo jukes and weaves his way through the MIddlesbrough midfield, but Pogatetz is waiting for him on the other side and dispossesses him with surprising ease.

19 mins Ferdinand heads just over from another Giggs corner, but is adjudged to have shoved Boateng as he went up for it anyway.

17 mins Better football from Boro, Aliadiere exchanging passes with Andrew Taylor down the left, before the latter swung an inviting delivery on to the head of Alves, who had found himself a half-yard of space half a yard of space in behind Patrice Evra. Sadly for Boro he only manages to glance the header wide.

15 mins Gary Naylor appears less surprised than I was to find a picture of a flying pig. "Your photo is from Newcastle's win yesterday isn't it," he chortles. "After Obafemi Martins' acrobatic celebration for the first goal, isn't that Mark Viduka celebrating the third?" Boro win a corner of their own, which Emanuel Pogatetz heads over the bar.

12 mins United have their tails up now, winning another corner after David Wheater deflects Ryan Giggs' cross behind. Luke Young managers to get this one clear, though.

GOAL! Middlesbrough 0-1 Man Utd (Ronaldo, 10 mins) Well that was all too predictable. United were yet to register a shot on goal, but after Ronaldo's free-kick 30 yards out was deflected behind by the wall, the Portuguese scores from the ensuing corner. The initial ball in from Giggs was flicked across the box by a Boro defender trying to clear, but only got as far as Carrick, who rolled the ball across for Ronaldo to poke home from six yards out.

8 mins Boro win a corner down on the right, but Downing's low ball is behind absolutely everybody in a red shirt, and Rooney hacks it clear.

6 mins Alves, who has scored no goals for Middlesbrough since arriving from Heerenveen in January, cuts into the United area from the right, but loses his footing as he does and ends up skewing the ball away from goal with his left foot.

5 mins United are beginning to get the ball down and play it around in those pretty little triangles they're so fond of, but so far it hasn't really taken them anywhere. In the meantime I've just discovered that Boro's top Premier League scorer this season is Stewart Downing, with all of six goals.

2 mins Giggs tries to chip a free-kick in towards Rooney from just inside the Boro half, but it's cut out. "This season, United have not lost a match that featured Wayne Rooney," pipes up Jojo Malig.

1 min And we're away, with an aimless but mildly diverting game of head tennis in the United half to get things started.

Staying off message "I know this is completely off-topic," parps James Barlow. "But has anyone else noticed the increasingly terrifying state of Georgie Thompson's hair on Sky Sports News? I flicked on the other day to check out the latest, and is looked like she had been struck on the side of the head by a small tidal wave of hair gel." I share your concern James, and did indeed see the haircut in question. I believe it is best described as My Little Pony chic. I believe it was a one-off though.

The lineups: Reports that Gary Neville was ready to return at right-back for Man Utd appear to have been false. Gareth Southgate, meanwhile, appears to have plumped for an impressively attacking 4-3-3, though we'll see how that works out in practice.

Middlesbrough: Schwarzer, Young, Wheater, Pogatetz, Taylor, O'Neil, Boateng, Arca, Downing, Alves, Aliadiere.Subs: Turnbull, Sanli, Cattermole, Johnson, Grounds.

Man Utd: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Brown, Evra, Ronaldo,
Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Tevez, Rooney.Subs: Kuszczak,
Hargreaves, Anderson, Park, Pique.

Referee: Mike Riley (Yorkshire)

The skinny So, do Middlesbrough have any hope of blowing the title race open again this afternoon? Despite having scraped together just 34 points so far this season (their lowest 32-game tally since the 2000-01 season), they've beaten Arsenal and drawn against Liverpool at the Riverside, as well as drawing again with Arsenal at Emirates Stadium. They've also had a decent record against United of late, taking two draws and a win from the last five Premier League fixtures between the two sides. Nevertheless, it's pretty hard to see them getting anything today - United are playing brilliantly at the moment and have outscored Middlesbrough by 40 goals (68 to 28) this season, while also conceding a third as many goals (15 to 45). I'm predicting a 3-0 rout.

I've been bumped! Or is it a promotion? There I was thinking I would be covering this afternoon's Barnsley v Cardiff jamboree, when suddenly all heck broke loose at the Olympic torch relay, and I was called into emergency Boro v Utd duties. So much for my hilarious 'pesky Tykes' pre-amble ...