Middlesbrough Vs. Manchester United Result Report

Wayne Rooney rescued a point for United after Afonso Alves’ double had looked set to give Middlesbrough a shock win at a wintry Riverside Stadium.

Rooney converted from close range with 16 minutes left after good work by substitute Ji-sung Park to ensure the Reds extended their lead over Chelsea at the top of the table to three points.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s 37th goal of the season had given United an early lead but Alves produced two superb finishes in each half to put Boro in command in an end-to-end game.

United’s defence, shorn of Nemanja Vidic, was frequently made to look uncharacteristically shaky by a lively Boro outfit and only a series of last-ditch tackles prevented the Teessiders from extending their lead in the second half.

Rio Ferdinand came off with what looked like a leg injury with 20 minutes left and, although United also had chances to win it, Sir Alex Ferguson will perhaps settle for a point after a testing encounter in the driving north-east snow.

As so often this season, United began brightly and took the lead inside 10 minutes. Ryan Giggs, in his 750th United appearance, swung over a deep corner to Michael Carrick, who fired back across goal for Ronaldo to convert left-footed from close range.

It was the winger's 27th league goal of an extraordinary campaign and it looked set to give United the platform to go on and dominate. Indeed, had the Reds taken one of several more chances in the opening 20 minutes, the game could have been safe.

Firstly, Giggs hit the side-netting after a flowing move involving Rooney and another Ronaldo backheel; then Carrick fed Rooney inside the box but Luke Young made a good tackle to deny the striker as he was poised to pull the trigger.

But Boro were looking dangerous themselves and, instead of wilting, they upped their tempo and Jeremie Aliadiere missed a glorious chance to equalise 23 minutes in when he sliced wide after being played in by Julio Arca.

Ronaldo almost extended United’s lead on the half-hour mark but, after beating three Boro defenders with a lightning burst of pace, he surprisingly failed to hit the target from the left-hand side of the box.

Two minutes later Alves, who had earlier headed an Andrew Taylor cross just wide, gave United a scare with a vicious, swerving free-kick which Edwin van der Sar parried nervously. But soon after Boro were level.

Gary O’Neil thumped the ball forward, Aliadiere headed it on and Alves held off Ferdinand to calmly slot home his first Boro goal in only his second start.

Van der Sar then blocked Stewart Downing's close-range shot before United had a penalty appeal turned down on the stroke of half-time when Ronaldo’s powerful shot appeared to hit Taylor's hand inside the box.

The Reds were given a scare immediately after the restart when Alves headed a long ball across goal to Emanuel Pogatetz, who was denied by a Carrick block.

But it wasn't long before things got worse as Alves bagged his second of the game. Wes Brown's attempted headed clearance from George Boateng's long ball forward hit Aliadiere and bounced into the path of the Brazilian, who controlled and curled superbly past Van der Sar.

Boro’s record signing could have made the game safe a couple of minutes later but his point-blank header was blocked by Ferdinand.

In an attempt to salvage something from the game, Ferguson brought on Park and Owen Hargreaves for the anonymous Carlos Tevez and John O'Shea, before Ferdinand limped off and was replaced by Gerard Pique.

And it was Park who fashioned the equaliser, cutting inside Taylor and squaring the ball to Rooney, whose shot took a deflection off Pogatetz and evaded Mark Schwarzer's dive.

United poured forward in search of a winner, with Paul Scholes and Rooney going close, but they were unable to find it and almost lost the game at the death when Van der Sar made a last-ditch block to deny Boro substitute Tuncay on the goalline.

Team Line-ups

Middlesbrough: Schwarzer; Young, Wheater, Pogatetz; Taylor; O'Neil, Boateng, Arca, Downing; Aliadiere (Johnson 90), Alves (Tuncay 77).
Subs not used: Turnbull, Cattermole, Grounds.
Booked: Young, O'Neil, Boateng

Manchester United: Van der Sar; Brown, Ferdinand (Pique 70), O'Shea (Hargreaves 67), Evra; Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs; Rooney, Tevez (Park 65).
Subs not used: Anderson.
Booked: Rooney

Attendance: 33,952