Middlesbrough held Newcastle United to a 2-2 draw in a feisty derby Premiership game at the Riverside Stadium on Sunday. Both teams were tied 1-1 at half time.

Charles N'Zogbia and Mark Viduka were the scorers for The Magpies while Mido and Julio Arca equalised on each occasion for Boro.

Both the sides looked very cautious and looked hesitant to commit more men forward. As a result, the game moved on at a slow pace with most of the action restricted to midfield in the first quarter of play.

Meanwhile, Magpies boss Sam Allardyce had to make a quick substitution as right back Stephen Carr picked up a suspected ankle problem and Peter Ramage came on in the 6th minute.

Newcastle’s Obafemi Martins caused the first attacking move of the game, but the Nigerian’s shot was wide of the target. George Boateng then made an important intervention to foil a threatening attack from the Toon.

Out of nowhere, N'Zogbia scored a fantastic goal in the 22nd minute to send the Toon fans in a frenzy as he found the net with an angular strike from 20 yards after Ramage had fed him up.

In the 28th minute, Steven Taylor blocked off a cross from Fabio Rochemback as Boro pushed forward in the pursuit of the equaliser.

Minute later, Mido levelled the terms for the home side as he rounded off Steve Harper easily to slot the ball home. The Egyptian international showed composure to chest the ball from Rochemback down and then hoodwinked Taylor before netting his second goal in as many matches for Gareth Southgate’s side.

Boro almost made it 2-1 but Harper this time made an important save as he got his hand to an angular grounder from Arca.

Boro looked the better team after their goal as they moved the attack around on either flank while the Toon had problem keeping possession. Ramage recovered in time to clear the ball to safety in the 43rd minute after Arca had sent a defence-splitting ball to Stewart Downing inside the box.

Toon had to defend well as Boro got going first in the second half with Mido initiating a neat build-up that however saw Ramage and Harper do enough to prevent Rochemback from finding the nets from a tight angle.

At the other end, Viduka failed to make any contact on a fine cross from left wing in the 61st minute. Soon after, James Milner’s attempt failed to trouble Mark Schwarzer.

Viduka made his return to old club a memorable outing for him as he opened his Newcastle account with a superb finish in the 77th minute after skipper Geremi had sent in a floater, and punished a Boro defence that had turned scratchy for a while. And as promised earlier, the Australian did not celebrate vigorously after scoring.

Boro struck immediately as Argentine Arca, who had looked very impressive throughout, came up with a fine goal as he chested the ball down and struck with his left foot a first-time grounder in the 80th minute.

Substitute Michael Owen squandered a simple chance to deflect a free-kick from N'Zogbia into Boro goal in the 83rd minute, after having left unmarked inside the six yard box.

Boro's Mido, Jonathan Woodgate, Luke Young, David Wheater, Fabio Rochemback and Tuncay Sanli were shown the yellow card. The players from Toon to be booked were Nicky Butt, James Milner and Alan Smith.

Teams
Middlesbrough: Mark Schwarzer, Julio Arca, Andrew Taylor, David Wheater, Jonathan Woodgate, Luke Young, George Boateng (Lee Cattermole 83), Stewart Downing, Fabio Rochemback, Jeremie Aliadiere (Tuncay Sanli 74), Mido.

Substitutes Not Used: Brad Jones, Seb Hines, Dong-Gook Lee.

Newcastle: Steve Harper, Stephen Carr (Peter Ramage 6) (Claudio Cacapa 58), David Rozehnal, Steven Taylor, Nicky Butt, Geremi, James Milner, Charles N'Zogbia, Obafemi Martins (Michael Owen 71), Alan Smith, Mark Viduka.

Substitutes Not Used: Shay Given, Shola Ameobi.