Score: Steve's Gunners jinx continues

Wenger's Mac lash

From Ray Ryan at The Riverside

STEVE McCLAREN'S Arsenal hoodoo continued after Robert Pires handed the Gunners a lucky win.

Boro's boss was on course to pick up his first league point against Arsene Wenger's men until Pires struck 17 minutes from time.

It was a devastating blow to Boro, who had outplayed the Londoners for much of the game only to end up with nothing.

McClaren has suffered a miserable time at the hands of Arsenal since he took charge at the Riverside Stadium.

Wenger's men had won the last SEVEN league meetings and went away with 4-0 thrashings on their last two visits to the Riverside.

So when keeper Mark Schwarzer injured his back in the warm-up and had to be replaced by Brad Jones, Boro fans must have feared the worst.

But the expected goal avalanche failed to materialise as Boro outfought their London opponents.

Ticket

Arsenal's passing was wayward, Thierry Henry never looked like racking up a third successive hat-trick and Jones did not touch the ball for the first 15 minutes until he came out to comfortably collect a Lauren cross.

McClaren said: "I just don't have any luck against Arsenal — but that's the closest I've come against them.

"I'm very pleased with my players and coouldn't have asked for any more from them.

"Brad Jones didn't have a shot to save until their goal — and that came after a deflection.

"But I certainly won't be buying a lottery ticket after the kind of luck we had here."

Even Gunners boss Wenger admitted: "We didn't create any clear-cut chances despite our possession and the players got a bit frustrated.

"We lacked imagination and lacked creativity in the penalty area.

"But Pires' goal was our 100th of the season and no one else has scored that many.

"Confidence is high and over the last seven games no one has picked up more points. I just wish we could carry on playing until August — in fact I might ring the Premier League and ask if we can do that!"

Boro threatened first as Brazilian Doriva swapped passes with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and smashed a 20-yard shot that beat Jens Lehmann all ends up but thundered against the post.

And Hasselbaink himself was put through moments later only to squirm his shot wide when normally he would have done better.

Arsenal did create a couple of half-chances in the first 45 minutes but their finishing let them down.

That was perfectly demonstrated when Jose Reyes outpaced two Boro defenders down the left and cut back for Henry.

But the Frenchman — usually so deadly — made a complete hash of his shot and sent it well past the post.

Henry almost made amends just before the break when he cut inside from the left, spotted Jones off his line and went for the top, right-hand corner with a curling effort which flew just wide.

And Reyes himself was just off target as Arsenal struggled to find their rhythm and form.

The Spaniard was replaced at half-time by Dennis Bergkamp but Arsenal still struggled to break down a solid Boro defence.

Gareth Southgate and Chris Riggott were outstanding at the back for McClaren's men.

Riggott showed just why he has kept his place in the side ahead of Ugo Ehiogu with a brilliant blocking tackle as Henry threatened to pounce early in the second half.

Boro's Stewart Downing did well to beat the Arsenal defence before his long drive was comfortably saved by Lehmann.

But just when it looked as though Boro had done all the hard work, Arsenal snatched the lead after 73 minutes.

Golden

Henry started the move with a ball out wide to Cesc Fabregas and his cross took two deflections off Franck Quedrue and Doriva before the ball fell nicely to Pires.

The Frenchman made no mistake from close range as he blasted past Jones with his left foot to break Boro's hearts.

It was a cruel blow and certainly something Boro did not deserve after the way they had contained Wenger's men for so long.

And the home side knew their luck was out after 78 minutes when Hasselbaink missed a golden opportunity to grab an equaliser.

The Dutch striker was sent racing clear on goal but shot tamely straight at Lehmann.

McClaren added: "Jimmy apologised to the players for his miss. He's very disappointed but he has won us loads of games this season. It's just one of those things."