Boro held by Bhoys late show

Hesselink header seals draw for Celtic

Last updated: 23rd July 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Boro held by Bhoys late show

Aliadiere: On target

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Middlesbrough drew 1-1 with Scottish champions Celtic in the Algarve Tournament.

The keenly contested affair looked to have been decided by a Jeremie Aliadiere goal which came as Celtic keeper Mark Brown could only hammer a poor Darren O'Dea pass back at the former Arsenal man.

But then Boro conceded a poor equaliser in injury time as they failed to clear their lines which allowed Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink to head his side level from close-range.

A bright first-half saw little in the way of action with the first sight of goal not coming until 15 minutes in when Paul Hartley shot wide.

Boro's wide-men, Graeme Owens and particularly new Dutch signing Marvin Emnes probed and produced a number of good moments.

Mohamed Shawky also impressed in central midfield for the English side and tried his luck twice from range without testing Brown in the Celtic goal - who was called into action just once in the opening 45 minutes when he got down well to save a Josh Walker effort.

The best chance of the half fell for Celtic with Aiden McGeady - the best player on the pitch - producing some wonderful footwork to beat Luke Young and cross for Giorgios Samaras, but he could only head straight at Ross Turnbull from eight-yards.

Boro made a host of changes at the interval with nine new faces and one of those, Jeremie Aliadiere almost broke the deadlock on 53 minutes but Brown produced a fine save low-down to his right.

Celtic responded on the hour as Barry Robson curled a nice free-kick at goal but this time Turnbull was there to excellently push the ball wide of his post.

The game slowed as Celtic made a host of changes too, but with 18 minutes left Boro took the lead through Aliadiere as Darren O'Dea tried to pass back to Brown but it was short and the keeper could only hammer it at the striker who found the back of the net.

Boro looked to have won the game, but in the final minute Celtic claimed the leveller. The English side did not clear from a corner, which allowed Bobo Balde to head the ball into the six-yard box and Hesselink headed home as Adam Johnson failed to clear on the line.

Cardiff win

The other game in the Algarve Cup saw FA Cup runners-up Cardiff City claim a 2-1 win over home side Vitoria Guimaraes.

Summer signing Ross McCormack showed some excellent form for his new club as he struck both goals.

The former Motherwell star opened the scoring on 16 minutes before he added his second just after the hour mark.

Guimaraes pulled one back in the final minute from the penalty spot.

The final games in the Algarve take place on Thursday when Middlesbrough play Guimaraes and Celtic face Cardiff.