A CATALYST is defined as being a substance that can either speed up or slow down a reaction without itself undergoing any change.

So, in football parlance, manager Steve McClaren has rather fittingly hailed the genius of Juninho as being Middlesbrough's very own 'little catalyst'.

Always busy, always involved and always trying hard to unlock defences. So much of Boro's attacking play rests with the Brazilian's forward-thinking.

There are times when things do not go Juninho's way and when that is the case it tends to mean that his side's play in the final third of the field suffers.

But when the South American does not seem to be able to put a foot wrong there are not many players in the Premiership who are as effective.

Whichever Juninho is on show, two things that will never be missing from his game are his commitment and desire to try to make things go his way.

At the Valley on Saturday there was no change. He may not have been enjoying the best of games yet he still orchestrated a couple of Boro's best chances to equalise.

After Charlton had taken the lead after 25 minutes, when midfielder Matt Holland curled in a flighted shot from 20 yards, there were a number of opportunities for the visitors to level matters.

Before half-time Juninho went on a mazy run before the ball fell nicely into the path of Joseph Job. Job, retaining his place despite two goals in two games from Szilard Nemeth, tried to slot past Dean Kiely but the goalkeeper made a super save.

In the dying seconds of the match Boro's final chance to earn a point came after another piece of magic from their diminutive director of play.

Juninho worked his way free before playing a delightful ball over the top for substitute Massimo Maccarone. The Italian looked certain to score but his low shot was well saved by Irishman Kiely.

Juninho himself has had better games. Yet the sign of a good player is when they have had an impact even without hitting the heights they are capable of.

He started the game just behind lone striker Job but after half-time he was given his preferred role in behind a front two - Nemeth and Maccarone.

Juninho admits that hitting the net is still a cause for concern in Boro's attempts to force their way up the Premiership table and establish themselves in the top ten.

"We're disappointed with the result at Charlton but I think everyone's happy with our performance. We have to convert a good performance into goals though," said the former Atletico Madrid star, who remains the club's top scorer with just seven.

"From the beginning we played very well and controlled most of the game but we didn't score.

"Credit to their goalkeeper, who made three or four good saves and I don't know if Matt Holland meant it but he scored a great goal.

"We controlled the tempo, got the ball on the floor and played great football. If we keep playing like that I'm sure we will get the points."

Juninho's views echoed those of his manager. Both suggesting Boro were by far the better team and that the three points deserved to be making their way to the North-East instead of staying in the Woolwich area of London.

However, there will have been a few Boro supporters who had made the trip to the capital who will feel those comments do not tell the whole story.

Granted, Kiely did make a number of stops to thwart Boro's advances but the standard of the Teessiders' passing was disappointing at times and there were a number of mistakes across the pitch - notably Maccarone's failure to hold up play when receiving the ball at his feet.

Had Bolo Zenden's early strike found the net instead of rebounding off the foot of the Charlton post then it may have been different.

But it never and, after the impressive Radostin Kishishev and Carlton Cole went close with long range drives, Holland struck the game's only goal.

Franck Queudrue's hash at a routine clearance allowed Paolo di Canio to roll the ball into Holland's path.

The former Ipswich man stroked the ball with the inside of his right boot into Mark Schwarzer's top right corner.

And the former McClaren target said: "I knew if I tried to strike it I'd have ballooned it so I just tried to place it and it's ended in the back of the net. I've scored three goals his season and they were all inside the six yard box so it was nice to get one like that."

Maccarone had a couple of chances to equalise and Nemeth went close, but Kiely found it too easy to get down low to either push the ball away or hold.

Charlton - who won only for the second time in six games - were not much better than Boro but this victory took the Addicks up to a Champions League place while Boro still don't look like breaking into the top six.

Nevermind, Carling Cup success means there will still be UEFA Cup football at the Riverside next season. Only time will tell whether McClaren can lead them to their highest Premiership finish as well