Soccer / UEFA Cup round of 32, second leg / Middelsbrough 2; Graz AK 1 (4-3 on aggregate): If Steve McClaren was a snooker player his game would be all about safety shots and frustrating opponents into submission before eventually picking them off.
Such innate tactical caution may sometimes vex fans but, not for the first time, it served Middlesbrough's manager well here when, operating very much like an away ensemble, his side survived a nervy evening to reach the last 16 where they will meet Sporting Lisbon.
Middlesbrough endured a morale-deflating beginning when Mario Bazina ran on to Rene Aufhauser's lofted, angled pass. His first attempt at a shot was intercepted by Gareth Southgate but the former England centre-half failed to make a proper connection and his miscued clearance flew straight back to Bazina. The striker swivelled smartly, unleashing a rising left-foot shot past Mark Schwarzer.
With Bazina's goal appearing to lift the Austrians, the ensuing minutes saw the hosts second to virtually every 50-50 ball. Indeed, for a time, those local volunteers who had worked right through Wednesday night and yesterday morning to clear more than 200 tonnes of snow from the Riverside's stands could have been forgiven for wondering why they had bothered.
However, Stewart Downing is becoming accustomed to body-swerving his team out of tight spots and here he accelerated down the left wing to pounce on a slack ball from Mario Tokic and swiftly breathe new life into the Teessiders.
He sent a low cross skimming across the face of goal which Andreas Schranz merely succeeded in parrying into the path of the on-rushing James Morrison whose right foot did the rest.
At the break Middlesbrough withdrew Morrison and Joseph-Desire Job, replacing them with Stuart Parnaby, a defender, and Doriva, a strictly no frills anchoring midfielder.
Their arrival saw Middlesbrough morph into a safety-first 5-4-1 formation, with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink the lone striker.
Clearly McClaren knew what he was doing because the revamp swiftly produced a goal. It arrived at the end of a passing move involving Ray Parlour, Bolo Zenden and, finally, Doriva, whose fine ball enabled Hasselbaink to sidestep the flailing Tokic before directing his shot beyond Schranz.
MIDDLESBROUGH: Schwarzer, Reiziger, Riggott, Southgate, Queudrue, Morrison (Parnaby 45 mins), Parlour, Zenden, Downing (Nemeth 86 mins), Job (Doriva 45 mins), Hasselbaink. Subs not used: Nash, Cooper, Davies, Graham. Booked: Doriva. Goals: Morrison 19, Hasselbaink 61.
GRAZ AK: Schranz, Plassnegger, Tokic, Ehmann, Pogatetz, Bleidelis (Standfest 64 mins), Muratovic, Aufhauser, Majstorovic (Dollinger 74 mins), Skoro, Bazina. Subs not used: Almer, Ramusch, Amerhauser, Philipp Six, Sick. Booked: Aufhauser, Ehmann. Goal: Bazina 9.
Referee: E I Gonzalez (Spain)
