Boro earn a good point.

In what was an entertaining opening day game, neither Boro or the Saints could break the deadlock. Boro had 3 debutants in the starting 11, Maccarone, Geremi and Boateng. Carlos Marinelli had the task of replacing Juninho in the team, with Alen Boksic and Szilard Nemeth having to settle for places on the bench.

The game started very quickly, as you would expect and after only 90 seconds Boro created the first chance of the game. After a quick break, Carlos Marinelli played in new-boy Maccarone and only a smart block from Saints keeper Paul jones prevented the Italian getting a debut goal.

For the next 10 minutes though it was Southampton who started to play the good football and Marian Pahars went close to opening the scoring with a curling shot that just went over the bar. After 12 minutes though, Boro's David Murphy, making his first Premiership start, had to be replaced by Colin Cooper.

Almost immediately came the best chance of the game. Pahars broke Boro's offside trap and was clean through on goal, only for his touch to let him down and gave Schwarcher the chance to pick the ball up. Anders Svennson also had a good chance for Saints, but the angle was too tight for the Swede who put his shot into the side netting.

The rest of the first half was fairly scrappy, with neither side able to keep the ball well enough to threaten. Half time brought a change by McClaren, with Nemeth coming on for Whelan. Boro started the second half well, with Nemeth looking very lively and Marinelli beginning to come into the game more.

The longer the half went on though, the more pressure the Saints began to pile on the pressure and Mark Schwarcher was called into action a number of times, his most impressive save denying Anders Svennson's diving header. At this stage Boro were hanging on slightly and it looked like if either team was going to score it would be the Saints.

After 75 minutes, McClaren took off Maccarone and brought on Alen Boksic. The Italian had looked good throughout the game without really causing too many problems. Boksic immediately made an impression, just missing a Marinelli cross and later hitting the side netting after a flowing move involving Boateng. Into stoppage time and Schwarcher was again forced to make a smart save from Chris Marsden.

Overall, Steve McClaren will be pleased with a point from a tough opening game.