Boro Disappoint

This tedious encounter looked a lot more like the January Sales than Premiership football, with everyone pushing and shoving and rushing round looking for a bargain.

In the end, Manchester City got the best of it, courtesy of Dunne’s fine header from a corner and rank bad defending from the visitors.

As for Middlesbrough, with Yakubu cumbersome and off the pace they just didn’t look like scoring until Gareth Southgate unleashed Macarone late in the game and somehow he contrived to hit the post twice in the last four minutes.

On the evidence of this match, both managers will continue to have problems.