Boro pay the penalty

DWIGHT Yorke's spotkick was the fitting decider for a game to forget as Boro's winess Premiership run extended to nine matches.

But the Teessiders were still fuming after Villa Park old boy Neil Cox was adjudged to have brought the Tobagan down for the penalty six minutes before the break.

When Savo Milosevic played the ball into Yorke just inside the box there seemed little on. Cox, one of three defenders behind the striker, appeared to grab hold of Yorke's shorts as he turned to the right, but whatever contact there was, was milked to the full as Yorke crumpled to the ground.

Yorke picked himself up to calmly sidefoot beyond Gary Walsh for his eight of the campaign.

Although Middlesborough were angry, a side that could manage only one real shot in 90 minutes can hardly complain at being beaten.

Villa were hardly impressive themselves and just shaded an average game.

It had looked likely to be better in the beginning, with the return of Milosevic giving Villa a more familiar look, although Riccardo Scimeca was in for Gareth Southgate.

The visitors then started to work off Juninho, although their only move of real quality ended with Fabrizio Ravanelli just failing to get on the end of Mikkel Beck's left-wing cross

Yorke and lan Taylor combined to put each other off when Mark Draper’s free kick found them both alone, before Villa were asking for another spot kick when Yorke’s free kick seemed to be batted away by the wall.

Milosevic almost marked on his return with a goal when he went close with a curler at the death, but the game would not have deserved that.