GARETH Southgate last night insisted that Ayegbeni Yakubu remained committed to Middlesbrough, and rubbished suggestions that the constant speculation over the striker's future had contributed to his disinterested display at Wigan.

Yakubu was little more than a bystander as Boro slipped to their second defeat of the season at the JJB Stadium, failing to record a single shot on target before he was substituted in the 66th minute.

With Mido watching from the stands - the Egypt international will be confirmed as a Middlesbrough player this morning after completing a £6.8m move from Tottenham last night - Yakubu's below-par performance suggested that he has already set his heart on a move away from the Riverside.

Everton have made two separate inquiries about his availability, and both Portsmouth and West Ham are also expected to strengthen their interest before the transfer window closes on August 31, but Southgate continues to insist that Yakubu remains an integral part of his plans.

"I don't think the speculation is affecting Yakubu," claimed the Middlesbrough manager, despite Antoine Sibierski's close-range strike having condemned his side to a deserved 1-0 defeat. "He's still very much with us and part of what we want to do.

"It's important to keep strengthening the squad because we're short of experienced players. We believe we're going in the right direction, but that performance wasn't enough to win the game."

With Jonathan Woodgate, Robert Huth, Emanuel Pogatetz and Luke Young all still absent, Boro were forced to field a patched-up defence for the second game in a row at the JJB Stadium.

Sibierski's match-winner came when the visitors failed to respond to Mark Schwarzer's parry from Antonio Valencia, but Southgate was quick to defend his back four.

"A very young defence has performed as well as we could have hoped," he claimed.

"We realise we've got players to come back, but we've got to scrap and battle with what we've got and we knew that would be the case. We've got to stick together."

David Foley might be just five feet four inches but he stood tall on Tuesday night when he bagged two goals as Hartlepool United secured a place in the second round of the Carling Cup by beating Scunthorpe.

Manager Danny Wilson hopes Foley is ready to make his mark.

He said: "Hopefully he can have as big an impact this season as he did the other night.

"David is a different type of player to what we have up front, he likes to get in behind defences and has that bit of pace, which central defenders don't like. He is very fleet of foot.

"He is a strong little lad, he might be slight but he has some strength on him. He can handle himself."