Middlesbrough 1 Manchester City 1

Centre-back Colin Cooper's second goal in four days preserved Terry Venables' proud unbeaten record in the Boro hot-seat.

But the precious Riverside point came at a price, with Keith O'Neill sent off for a wild challenge on City's Gerard Wiekens five minutes from time.

Cooper, a scorer in Boro's 2-2 draw at Everton on Wednesday night, forced home just after the hour-mark after spirited City had held the lead from the 28th minute courtesy of an own goal by the unfortunate Steve Vickers.

The Boro defender diverted on-loan Andrei Kanchelskis' right-wing cutback past helpless keeper Mark Schwarzer.

But unlikely hero Cooper was on the end of things following an O'Neill corner as Boro stretched their unbeaten sequence under head coach Venables to ten games.