Boro hold Liverpool

Saturday's Premiership photos

Middlesbrough 0-0 Liverpool

Liverpool and Middlesbrough played out a goalless draw at the Riverside in a game where defences were on top throughout.

The result does nothing for the visitors' continued claims that they are genuine championship contenders.

But they rarely looked like earning a win as Middlesbrough's resolute backline helped them to a fourth consecutive clean sheet in the league

Liverpool started brightly with Colin Cooper having to pull off a perfectly-timed sliding tackle to prevent Emile Heskey from a goalscoring opportunity.

Fit-again Juninho started to exert his influence for Middlesbrough, but could not control the ball when Boudewijn Zenden's driven shot rebounded to him.

For all the intricate play however, there was precious little goalmouth incident until the half-hour when Juninho sent Gaizka Mendieta in on Chris Kirkland's goal.

The Spaniard looked favourite to score but Djimi Traore appeared behind him and stretched out a leg to poke the ball away.

Referee Phil Dowd was on the spot to turn down the crowd's penalty claims.

Michael Owen had handed Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier a boost before the start by declaring himself fit for the game.

But he was kept quiet by a combination of Cooper and Gareth Southgate and when he did find some space a bad first touch allowed the ball to skid away from him.

Liverpool were slightly brighter after the break and came close when Owen linked up with Kewell.

The Australian's cross looked perfect for Heskey but he missed it by inches and Schwarzer cleared with his legs.

Owen was withdrawn with about 20 minutes to go and his replacement Florent Sinama-Pongolle brought a breath of fresh air to the Reds' frontline.

He had a chance to break the deadlock but instead fired over after Schwarzer had spilled a cross.

Liverpool threw caution to the wind in the dying stages and Sinama-Pongolle looked to have been brought down in the area by Franck Queudrue but Dowd was unimpressed.

And Middlesbrough's defence duly held firm to extend their run without conceding a goal in the Premiership to 429 minutes.

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Middlesbrough: Schwarzer, Queudrue, Davies, Southgate, Cooper, Mendieta, Boateng, Doriva, Zenden, Ricketts (Nemeth 70), Juninho Paulista.
Subs Not Used: Nash, Riggott, Maccarone, Greening.

Booked: Queudrue, Doriva.

Liverpool: Kirkland, Finnan (Diao 47), Traore, Biscan, Hyypia, Kewell, Murphy, Gerrard, Diouf (Smicer 74), Heskey, Owen (Sinama Pongolle 68).
Subs Not Used: Dudek, Le Tallec.

Booked: Hyypia, Kewell.

Attendance: 34,268

Referee: P Dowd (Staffordshire).