TWELVE days ago Middlesbrough were 60 seconds from crashing to a home defeat by Fulham and their hopes of finishing in a UEFA Cup spot in the league were hanging by a thread.

The home crowd at the Riverside were angry, manager Steve McClaren had to cope with an injury list that appeared to be lengthening by the hour, and their season looked like ending prematurely after showing so much promise.

The team's spirit appeared to be waning but a fortunate penalty later - given against Edwin Van der Sar for fouling Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink outside the area - and Boro were given a lifeline.

Since then they've hammered West Brom and battled to two draws at Newcastle and Liverpool. Against Fulham McClaren had three 18-year-old rookies on the bench in the shape of David Knight, David Wheater and Jason Kennedy.

On Saturday he had two full internationals and two England Under-21 internationals at his disposal. The spirit that epitomised Boro's start to the season and saw them reach the top four in the league and the last 16 of the UEFA Cup had returned. On Saturday it was there in abundance.

Gareth Southgate wanted to play despite the seven stitches he sported in a head wound.

George Boateng and Doriva passed morning fitness tests and when the game kicked off Boro looked hungry and produced one of their best 45 minutes of the season and certainly their best since the turn of the year.

"I thought the first-half display by our players was fantastic," said McClaren.

"We defended well, controlled the game, passed it very well, always looked dangerous on the break and deserved to go in 1-0 at half-time."

The dream start came courtesy of Szilard Nemeth after just four minutes. Ugo Ehiogu's ball from defence to Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was chested down by the striker into the path of his partner. Nemeth easily shrugged off Mauricio Pellegrino and slotted past Jerzy Dudek from 15 yards.

It was only the second time this season in the league Boro have scored in the opening 15 minutes - Man. City at home was the last time and that was in November. But instead of the expected sit back and hold on, Boro continued to pass the ball around and looked to add to the early strike.

Defensively they were superb and the main threat apart from a John Arne Riise header over from six yards was the Norwegian firing in shots from 25 yards plus.

At the other end Bolo Zenden brought off a fine near post save from Dudek and there were any number of last ditch clearances from the home defence. At the other end Southgate was at his very best.

The head wound picked up in a clash with Alan Shearer during last week's Tyne-Tees derby apparently threatened his place. However, according to the skipper, there was never any doubt he would play.

Southgate said: "It was purely a stitch job and the doctor stitched it very well and it was very unlikely it was going to open up. That was the only concern but it meant that I had to wear that ludicrous headgear.

"But it was worth it. There was no need for a fitness test (before the Liverpool game) because I was obviously going to play.

"Once I got that first header out the way and the adrenaline started pumping I was fine."

That header was followed by dozens of others and, along with Ugo Ehiogu, Andrew Davies and Frank Queudrue, the Boro defence stood firm against a second-half onslaught with the help of goalkeeper Brad Jones.

The goal they did concede was the type of strike you see once a season or, in the north west twice a week judging by Wayne Rooney's goal against Newcastle the previous weekend.

Jones had just pulled off a fine save from a point blank header from substitute Luis Garcia when Stephen Warnock launched a long ball from the left of defence which landed at Steven Gerrard's feet about 30 yards from goal on the right of the penalty box.

A couple of touches later and he unleashed a volley that was past Jones before he'd even completed his dive.

"He's one of probably a handful of players in the league who can do that," said Southgate.

"He's an exceptional player and that's the quality of players when you come to a place like this that can sometimes unlock you."

But Boro did manage to regroup and once McClaren replaced Nemeth with Stewart Downing just after the hour mark and switched a five-man midfield, Boro started to compete again.

The fact McClaren had options on the bench was a boost in itself with the Boro substitutes resembling a school outing in recent weeks.

McClaren said: "I think our bench looked a little better on Saturday - arguably not as good as theirs - and it's nice to see Parnaby, Reiziger, Morrison coming back.

"I thought the bench was a bit more decent.

"There was 20 minutes when they upped the tempo and we struggled a bit.

"Once we got a platform and got five across the middle we established control - or as much as possible when you haven't got the ball.

"We expected an onslaught and we got it. But for a wonderstrike we might have collected all three points."

Southgate agreed. He said: "They get a world class goal which meant we were thinking we're going to have to soak up some pressure here - which we did.

"We weathered it for 20 minutes and the manager switched to a five-man midfield.

"As a defender I love games like that when you're always involved. It's nice to have quiet afternoons but it's great when you feel you're on top of your game and everything's coming into the box you've got lots to deal with and you feel you can deal with it.

"That's a great feeling especially away from home."

There was one more imperious sliding tackle from Southgate after the dangerous Garcia had slipped the ball through toward Harry Kewell which epitomised his display.

With 180 minutes of football left in the season that spirit may just be enough to guarantee a return of European football to the Riverside next season.

Result: Liverpool 1 Middlesbrough 1.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.