GARETH Southgate's unusually out-of-sorts performance in his head-to-head battle with Middlesbrough teammate Szilard Nemeth was summed up in one brief first half moment at the Riverside last night.

The two Boro stars, given a fantastic reception by the England supporters on Teesside, were both desperate to put on a good show on home turf.

And while Nemeth's performance was not in the exceptional class, he won this particular duel with his clubmate in an opening 45 minutes that verged on the disastrous for Sven-Goran Eriksson's men.

With the ball going nowhere just after the half hour mark, a seemingly innocuous challenge on the touch-line by the England defender on the Slovakian centre-forward resulted in a free-kick going the visitors' way.

It may have looked harmless enough at the time, but when Vladimir Janocko's dead ball effort evaded everyone's head and sneaked into David James' far corner, you sensed a feeling of self satisfaction had come over Nemeth.

Both players were signed by Boro in the summer of 2001, albeit by different managers, and since then it has been Southgate who has continually grabbed the limelight in the Premiership.

He has become Mr Consistent but, once again on the international stage, it was Nemeth - still yet to make a big name for himself domestically - who haunted England.

It was only last October when, similarly to last night, Nemeth got the better of Southgate to hand Slovakia a half-time lead. Well, history does have a habit of repeating itself.

Only moments after Slovakia scored the opening goal, a deft touch by Nemeth on the half-way line got him away from both Southgate and Mills. It was a turn of skill that started a move which created a glorious opportunity for a second, but the chance was wasted by Igor Demo.

This was not how it was supposed to be for Southgate on his homecoming.

Before the clash it was a case of home from home for the former Aston Villa man as his Boro boss, Steve McClaren, guest of honour for the night, wished him luck as the two teams were paraded on the pitch.

For Nemeth, there was a tap around the head and a word from McClaren. Whatever was uttered to the former Inter Bratislava man to try to distract him, it couldn't have worked.

In the end though, no matter how poor Southgate and his fellow international teammates started this important European Championship qualifier, it was the Englishman who had the last laugh on his 55th appearance for his country - largely down to the predatory instincts of his skipper Michael Owen.

It was left to Nemeth - who failed to add to his 16 international goals - to watch the final minutes from the bench as a hugely disappointing second-half for Slovakia saw Southgate gain sweet revenge.