AFTER weeks of festering discontent, more than a thousand travelling Teessiders finally witnessed a Boro display to be proud of at the weekend.

They were privy to a performance that bristled with passion, a desire to win every tackle going and a refusal to admit defeat despite the numerous obstacles placed in the way.

The only problem, of course, was that the Boro players in question played in the blue and white of Nuneaton. Middlesbrough's multi-millionaires, on the other hand, combined indifference with ineptitude.

Make no mistake about it, the biggest shock in this FA Cup third-round tie was that it took the Nationwide Conference North minnows to the final minute to secure a replay at the Riverside.

Judging by the Boro fans indifference to cup competitions the return may not be as money-spinning as Nuneaton hope, but had Steve McClaren's men been dumped out of the competition at Manor Park, they could have had few complaints.

Nuneaton striker Gez Murphy normally spends his days arranging disco-dancing classes for the children of Coventry. On Saturday, it was former England international Gareth Southgate that he was putting in a spin.

The 29-year-old, who is a full-time sports development officer for Coventry District Council, ran Middlesbrough's defence ragged despite never having played a Football League game in his life.

Yet, as full-time approached, his efforts looked to have been in vain. Middlesbrough were desperately clinging on to Gaizka Mendieta's 14th-minute opener until Gareth Southgate deflected Michael Frew's left-wing cross onto his own arm.

Referee Mike Dean pointed to the spot and, with a calmness that stood in marked contrast to the panic that had engulfed the visitors by that stage, Murphy duly earned his side a thoroughly-deserved draw. In the process, he also kick-started the biggest party Nuneaton had ever seen.

"I don't know how I'm going to make work on Monday," admitted Murphy, who would have had a first-half hat-trick had it not been for the agility of goalkeeper Brad Jones. "I might roll in after lunchtime but I'm sure my bosses will understand why.

"Thirty or 40 of my work colleagues were at the game so I'm sure they know the score! They knew what it meant to me and what it meant to the town of Nuneaton in general. We've had some good days at this club in the past, but this tops everything.

"It's incredible and it's going to be really hard to come back down and return to the real world. My job is to ensure that sports provision is provided for the people in this area. I work in a deprived area of Coventry and make sure the people who live there have the opportunity to participate in sport.

"It can be anything they want from football and cricket to break-dancing and disco-dancing. Hopefully, if a few of the kids have been watching this it might inspire them to get involved in something themselves.

"Nobody gave us a chance, but that's the beauty of the FA Cup. I don't think any of the Middlesbrough players could have begrudged us this result."

By the final whistle, Middlesbrough's players were simply happy to escape with their cup dreams intact. On a sloping pitch that was sodden following early-morning snow, they became bogged down by their own mediocrity.

Perhaps they should have known what was coming. Before kick-off, spectator Keith Edwards was the recipient of a surprise marriage proposal from his girlfriend Leanne. Clearly, the romance of the cup was already in the air.

Yet while McClaren can talk of the unique traditions of the oldest cup competition in the world and cite the sub-standard surroundings as a mitigating factor in his side's struggles, he cannot escape one salient point.

Middlesbrough could play on the moon and they should still be able to beat a side some 100 places below them in England's football pyramid. That they were comprehensively out-classed for the whole of the second half merely underlined the severity of the crisis that is gradually gripping the Riverside.

"We came here expecting to win, despite the conditions and the attitude of Nuneaton," said McClaren, who must be viewing Saturday's trip to Arsenal with a barely-disguised dread. "But that's the FA Cup for you. That's why there are so many upsets every year and I have been in football long enough to know that these things happen.

"All credit to Nuneaton. It was always going to be a difficult game and we were fortunate it was just a draw at the end. It's a very disappointing day but one that could have been worse.

"We were well prepared for the game, we named the strongest team we could, and I don't think there was a problem in terms of the effort. It was certainly not a question of us suffering from complacency."

If McClaren genuinely believes the effort was there - and, given the utter indifference displayed by Mark Viduka in particular, that is hard to imagine - it says little for the quality at his disposal.

Next weekend, Nuneaton will travel to Redditch United but, on Saturday, their collection of bricklayers, driving instructors and chiropodists outclassed a Boro side that contained five internationals, a European Cup winner, and a strikeforce worth £12m.

Since thrashing Manchester United at the end of October, the Teessiders have won four of their subsequent 15 games, with two of those successes coming against European minnows Dnipro and Litex Lovech. It is hardly a run that will inspire chairman Steve Gibson to dig even deeper this month.

They failed to improve that tally at the weekend but, on reflection, things could have been much, much worse. The tone was set from the second minute when Lee Cattermole's dreadful backpass let in Brian Quailey, only for Jones to come to the rescue after the striker had squared the ball into Murphy's path.

Mendieta's fabulous free-kick should have settled any nerves but, while James Morrison and Stuart Parnaby also went close before the break, it was Nuneaton's part-timers who settled into their stride.

Student Mark Noon dominated Doriva at the heart of midfield, while first-half substitute Stuart Whittaker ran rings around Parnaby in his left-wing slot.

Noon thought he had won a penalty when Southgate took his legs away in the box but, while referee Mike Dean was unmoved on that occasion, he made amends by pointing to the spot a minute from time.

"I honestly didn't think about it," said Murphy. "Maybe I should have done - I guess if I'd missed it, they would have been hanging me for costing the club about a quarter of a million pounds." Instead, his success left his opponents to hang their heads in shame.

Result: Nuneaton Borough 1, Middlesbrough 1.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.