Middlesbrough 2, Tottenham Hotspur 1

Aug 18 2008 by Jack Pickering, The Journal

DELIGHTED with an opening-day victory over highly-fancied Tottenham, Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate is relishing the prospect of introducing new signing Justin Hoyte into his starting XI.

That said, the man who filled the void created by Luke Young’s departure hardly let the side down on Saturday.

Stand-in right-back David Wheater scored the crucial opening goal for Boro and had a seemingly-legal first half header disallowed.

The Teesside-born 21-year-old has set down a marker Hoyte will be hard pushed to emulate. And while Wheater’s positional sense may have belied his unfamiliarity with the full-back role – he last played there as an Under-17s Academy player – his distribution was outstanding. Southgate praised the England Under-21 international, saying: “We think he’s progressing very well for a young player. He’s extremely ambitious, he wants to work at his game, he wants to learn. I think he enjoyed playing at full-back, it was something different to what he’s used to. He was a bit apprehensive when we spoke to him about it, but he showed he can play there.”

In an enterprising and open game, both sides looked capable of scoring. David Bentley twice went close for Spurs and Afonso Alves should have broken the deadlock in the 18th minute after good work from Tunçay. But the Brazilian took one touch too many and defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto was able to deflect the shot wide.

Wheater’s controversial ‘goal’ came just after the half-hour when he headed home a Stewart Downing corner. Referee Martin Atkinson ruled the Boro player had fouled defender Michael Dawson but replays showed the Spurs man had been guilty of pulling Wheater’s shirt. It was later confirmed the referee had apologised for the error.

Southgate said: “We thought it was a foul on David if anything. He’s had his shirt ripped in the incident. We’ve won the game so we can continue the ‘Respect’ campaign for another week, but it might have been a different story had we not won.”

Justice was done in the 71st minute when Wheater lashed the ball home from close range after Alves had flicked Downing’s cross on to the bar. Mido doubled the lead when he turned in Didier Digard’s 87th-minute cross-shot – a special moment for the Egyptian who left Spurs to join Boro a year ago.

Deep into injury time, the visitors grabbed a consolation when Robert Huth headed a Bentley free kick into his own net. But the 2-1 win was Boro’s first home Premier League victory at the Riverside on the opening day of the season and Southgate was naturally pleased.

He said: “I’m delighted. We worked for six weeks during pre-season on what our philosophies were going to be this season and if you don’t start with the right sort of performance all that work can be undone, so this result keeps everyone’s optimism going.”

Hoyte signed a four-year-deal with Boro on Saturday after Arsenal accepted a £3m offer for the 23-year-old. He was introduced to the crowd prior to Saturday’s match and received a tremendous reception.

Southgate said: “He suits the profile of the type of player we want to bring to the club – Premier League experience but young enough to improve.

“We think he’ll get great confidence from being a regular player. He’s a super athlete, he’s technically good and from the feedback we’ve had he’s a smashing kid to work with. We’re very much looking forward to bringing him to our team.’’

MIDDLESBROUGH: Jones, Wheater, Huth, Pogatetz, Taylor, Aliadiere, Shawky, O’Neil, Downing, Alves (Mido 82), Sanli (Digard 72). Subs (not used): Turnbull, Emnes, Adam Johnson, Williams, Grounds.

Booked: Digard.

Goals: Wheater 71, Mido 86.

TOTTENHAM: Gomes, Zokora, Dawson, Woodgate, Assou-Ekotto (O’Hara 76), Lennon (Bale 65), Jenas, Modric, Bentley, Giovanni (Berbatov 65), Bent. Subs (not used): Cesar, Huddlestone, Gunter, King. Booked: Jenas, Bentley.

Goals: Huth 90 og.

Attendance: 32,623.

Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).