Middlesbrough 0 - Fulham 0: Gareth Southgate says Boro won't give up the fight

Defiant Gareth Southgate refused to throw in the towel after his Middlesbrough side found themselves still locked in the relegation zone.

Failure to beat Fulham left them still three points from safety with five games to play - and Arsenal and Manchester United to come next.

But even that is better than being relegation certainties - which is exactly what Riverside boss Southgate's battlers looked to be eight days ago before a vital win over fellow strugglers Hull pumped fresh life into their safety bid.

Southgate (below) said: "Everyone will look at our fixtures and feel we are gone but we are still managing to hang in there.

"All the teams we have to play will have their own pressures.

"We are not just going to sacrifice the next two fixtures.

We have to try to get something from them - we have done so in the past couple of years."

You just don't know what will happen but what I do know is that we will fight right through to the end."

Another victory would have taken Boro to within a point of escaping the bottom three following defeats for Hull and Blackburn at Sunderland and Stoke respectively.

However, though, if you accept that West Brom are already condemned to Championship football next term, it looks like a battle between four clubs for the other two drop places.

With Hull, in particular, in free fall, Southgate and his team might just fancy their chances of clinching last-gasp salvation. Fulham boos Hodgson certainly thinks they can stay up.

He should know the qualities and characteristics a team need to do that after the Cottagers completed their own Great Escape from relegation on the final day of last season.

Hodgson was clearly impressed by Boro's performance, and openly admitted that he was pleased to leave with a share of the spoils.

He said: "Boro went about their task in an excellent manner and put us under severe pressure at times.

"I was delighted by the way we withstood that pressure.We only showed fragments of our true form, so I am well happy to take a point out of it.

"Gareth Southgate will be very proud of his team's performance, and rightly so. They certainly did not look like a relegation team.

"From what I saw of them, I believe they have got the wherewithal to win their fight to stay up.

"It is not going to be an easy task, though, and I am sure Gareth and his players know they are going to have to fight every minute of what is left of the season.

"But they can definitely take heart from what we did last season."

The brilliance of Fulham's centre-backs Brede Hangeland and Aaron Hughes plus a breathtaking 47th-minute save by former Boro keeper Mark Schwarzer denied Southgate's men.

Schwarzer , who made 446 appearances in an 11-year stint at Boro, reacted brilliantly to claw away a close-range header by Tuncay from Jeremie Aliadiere's cross.

Hodgson said: "Mark's save was a match-defining moment but that is the kind of thing I've come to expect from him. Ever since joining us last summer he has produced cool and composed performances.

"Hughes and Hangeland have also been vitally important. They have hardly put a foot wrong all season."

"I've got players all through the side who work extremely hard in every game, but Schwarzer, Hughes and Hangeland have just been so very consistent for us all season."

DID YOU KNOW?

Fulham's recent record at Boro has been appalling. Their last win on Teesside was 2-0 in March 1984 after Ray Harford replaced the sacked Macolm Macdonald (right) as manager..

BEST BET

Sinking Boro go to Arsenal next Sunday and probably need something better than the 1-1 they managed in the reverse. No chance - Arsenal are 1/4 for good reason - but the Gunners' clean sheet is a better punt. They have managed 11 in their last 13 homes.

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