IT'S debatable whether the rival managers at yesterday's Tyne-Tees derby were watching the same game as both Graeme Souness and Steve McClaren believed their side should have run-out worthy winners.

Souness, whose side hung on to 11th place in the Premiership thanks to Lee Clark's last-minute equaliser, said a defeat would have left his players feeling as if they had been 'mugged', while McClaren described it as a 'cruel game' in which two points had been thrown away.

The Middlesbrough manager, clearly looking through spectacles with a definite hint of red, even went so far as to say the Teesiders were eyeing the higher reaches, choosing to ignore the fact that they are also five points off a relegation spot. Positive thinking was clearly the order of the day in the away dressing room.

"We went 2-1 up and I think deservedly 2-1 up," said McClaren. "Then to lose two points like that . . . it's certainly testing us at the present moment. But I thought our team today showed fantastic character to play like that.

"It was a gritty performance against Manchester City and it was gritty today, but we played great football at times and even at 1-0 down at half-time I thought we had enough opportunities in the first half."

Referring to the incident where Newcastle's Robbie Elliott appeared to handle the ball, McClaren said it was a cast-iron spot kick as far as he was concerned.

"It looked like a blatant penalty to me, I thought the goalkeeper had picked the ball up, not the left back," he said.

"I said if we kept going we would get our reward, and we did. But to have it snatched away from us at the end is obviously very cruel."

Souness felt equally hard done by, saying: "I thought we bossed it for the vast majority of the game.

"We had nearly all the possession, had the better chances and yet we found ourselves 2-1 down with three minutes to go - you feel you have been mugged. But, credit to my players, because they kept going to the end. It would have been very hard on them if they had lost that game."

Souness, who said Michael Owen was to have an operation on his broken metatarsal in Manchester today, also revealed that he would have to nurse midfielder Scott Parker through the rest of the season.

"Scott has nicked his cartilage, but the feeling is he can get away with it until the end of the season," he said.

"He shook his knee up at West Ham. But, Scott being Scott, he has played on it since then. We are trying to rest him from the Tottenham game to the Fulham game (January 14). The worst scenario is that if it doesn't work, he will have an operation."

Souness also played down reports of an argument with defender Stephen Carr over the player's assessment he was not fit prior to the 2-0 defeat at Spurs.

"I believe there was a bust-up, but it wasn't with me," he said.

McClaren, meanwhile, who said winger Stewart Downing was back in training and he was counting down the days until he could also welcome back midfielders Ray Parlour and George Boateng, said he was not about to look over his shoulder, despite Boro's unhealthy position in the league.

"When you look at it, it's very tight," he said.

"There's only six points between us and eighth and if you look at today's performance and the players coming back I predict a better second half to the season than we had in the first."

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