MIDDLESBROUGH'S hopes of a UEFA Cup night in the El Madrigal passing without distractions in the stands were fulfilled. But dreams of three more Group E points were not.

Prior to Boro's trip to Villarreal all the talk was of them being the first English club to make the trip to Spain since last week's controversial international friendly at the Bernabeu sparked a race row.

There was no repeat of the shameful racial abuse directed at England's black players, but Boro produced a performance that has dented their push to finish top of the group.

Barring a mathematical miracle, despite the 2-0 defeat in Villarreal, Steve McClaren's men know that progress into the last 32 of the competition is on the cards.

A point in their final fixture with Partizan Belgrade on December 15 will guarantee that following victories in their two previous games against Egaleo and Lazio without conceding a goal

The decision by McClaren to start with just one forward and leave both Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Mark Viduka on the bench until half-time backfired.

By the time both were introduced Villarreal, seen as Middlesbrough's biggest Euro test to date, had taken a slender half-time lead through striker Antonio Guayre.

Right-back Javi Venta then made sure of victory with his side's second goal after curbing Middlesbrough's advances for an equaliser.

The focus off the pitch, with the compact stadium having nearly as many empty seats as those taken up by the vast red of Middlesbrough, initially detracted from the fact that McClaren gambled on his selection by naming Hasselbaink and Viduka among the substitutes.

Joseph Job was given the task of holding the front-line on his own as Middlesbrough went like-for- like with Villarreal, who asked Antonio Guayre to operate in a similar role.

It is a strategy that has worked well for the Primera Liga outfit on home soil this season.

But Saturday's defeat to Deportivo La Coruna proved there is a way of breaking through a miserly rearguard, who have now kept 11 clean sheets from 12 games in front of their own supporters.

Villarreal's rise onto the European scene, like Middlesbrough's, has largely been down to an ambitious chairman, Fernado Roig, who made his fortune in ceramics.

It has been his cash that has helped the club reignite a number of players' careers in recent seaons. One is ex-McClaren target Diego Forlan, who was cup-tied last night and another is playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme.

Riquelme, once dubbed the new Diego Maradona, tried hard to unlock the Middlesbrough defence early on.

But his through-ball was well marshalled back to Mark Schwarzer by Gareth Southgate.

After initially enjoying plenty of the ball and showing purpose, Middlesbrough allowed Villarrreal to share possession between themselves with intricate passes.

But Middlesbrough's defence, which has now started seven of the last eight games together, stood firm and that allowed the Premiership side to threaten at the other end with their best chance of the half.

Brazilian midfielder Doriva set Stewart Downing away behind the Spanish defence.

Downing's pace got him away from his chaser but his right-foot strike was parried behind for a corner by goalkeeper Jose Manuel Reina.

Villarreal had to rely on shots from distance and Schwarzer made three important saves. First he denied a fairly routine 22-yard effort from Santiago Cazorla.

And the Australian was alert to save a Riquelme free-kick, after Southgate had pulled back the player, and instinctively cleared the loose ball with his right boot.

The threat of the former Barcelona star became more apparent and it was his defence-splitting pass that created the opening goal eight minutes before half-time.

Striker Guayre latched on to it and struck a powerful right-foot shot across Schwarzer, who stood no chance.

Villarreal had gained the upperhand and McClaren needed to do something to strengthen hopes of gaining a positive result and he turned to Viduka and Hasselbaink for help.

The pair came on for Job, who was unable to perform effectively as a target man, and Doriva.

This meant Boro could revert to their favoured two men up front.

The decision had an immediate impact with the two front-men combining before the defence opened up for Viduka to fire high into the stand behind Reina's goal.

Just seconds later the Australian striker, without a goal since September 16's success over Banik Ostrava, worked his way free again before unleashing a right-foot 20-yard shot on the turn inches wide.

But Middlesbrough failed to build on that and Villarreal could quite easily have gone two goals up.

This time midfielder Cazorla curled his effort over the bar after cutting inside from the left.

After 67 minutes Hector Font was next to be let down by poor finishing when he failed to test Schwarzer after being teed up by goalscorer Guayre.

At the other end Riggott - who scored against Liverpool at the weekend - had the ball in the net but was ruled to be offside after turning Viduka's shot past Reina.

Villarreal made sure of victory 16 minutes from time when defender Javi Venta played a neat one- two with Riquelme before firing high into the roof of Schwarzer's net. Villarreal, nicknamed the Yellow Submarines, had well and truly sunk their English counterparts