LAST season, Middlesbrough only picked up a solitary point during the last five minutes of their 38 Premiership games while, in the same period, Newcastle contrived to throw nine away.

So, on the face of things, it is Boro who can celebrate a new dawn after Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's disputed late leveller earned a share of the spoils in the Tees-Tyne derby while, for Newcastle, it is a case of more of the same.

But simple facts can be deceptive and, after a frenetic opening to the new Premiership season at the Riverside, the North-East's two Champions League pretenders are no nearer knowing who will be the region's top dogs come May.

Hasselbaink's dramatic 90th-minute strike certainly displayed a killer streak lacking in much of Boro's play last term, with the former Chelsea striker bundling home Bolo Zenden's left-wing cross with his arm.

"The hand of Hass", bemoaned United boss Sir Bobby Robson, and he should know having been on the end of a similar Diego Maradona effort at the 1986 World Cup finals.

It is difficult to imagine either Joseph-Desire Job or Szilard Nemeth having displayed the same hunger and drive that propelled Hasselbaink into the six-yard box at the end of a pulsating encounter and, after making strengthening his strikeforce a priority this summer, Boro boss Steve McClaren already has a point to show for his efforts.

"I don't know whether we would have scored that goal last season," admitted McClaren, who will team up with the England squad today ahead of Wednesday's friendly at St James' Park. "We kept going and Jimmy was a part of that.

"It's not just what he does with the ball, he's also got a great attitude and he's there when it counts. We need that in the team, and we got our rewards through that.

"He's a winner. I remember Ken Bates saying Middlesbrough had signed a winner and we are seeing that he's not just here to play out his playing days."

He didn't win by the book of course but, leaving aside the illegality of Hasselbaink's late strike, the Dutchman's goal was a fitting reward for an impressive Boro debut.

He provided the cross that enabled substitute Stewart Downing to cancel out Craig Bellamy's 14th-minute opener and worked tirelessly to twice drag the home side back into the game.

But he had to because, for all of Boro's intensive transfer activity this summer, they still displayed some of the same failings that saw them fail to finish in the top half of the table last term.

McClaren's side were distinctly second best in a first half that saw George Boateng and Ray Parlour completely over-run by England internationals Nicky Butt and Jermaine Jenas.

Boateng in particular improved after the interval but, tellingly, it was the 65th-minute introduction of Downing that saw the pendulum swing Boro's way.

Before that, Gaizka Mendieta and Zenden had been forced inside far too often, congesting an already crowded midfield and allowing a makeshift Newcastle defence to exploit Boro's general lack of pace.

"I didn't think there was much cohesion in our play," admitted McClaren. An acceptable flaw given so many summer signings, but still something of a concern from a midfield unit containing three players who played together for most of last season.

Newcastle's midfield contained two new recruits - Butt and James Milner - but, for much of the game, it was the visitors who bossed the central areas.

Butt was a revelation on his debut, offering protection and productivity in equal measure, while Milner and Laurent Robert could have put the game out of sight had their crossing matched their ability to get into dangerous situations on their respective flanks.

Ultimately though, the Magpies were left to rue the kind of momentary defensive lapse that saw them win just twice on the road last season.

A combination of injury and illness had forced Robson to name a back four comprised entirely of full-backs and, while they toiled manfully for the most part, they were ultimately undone by Hasselbaink's late strike scored, ironically, from a position that should have been defended by left-back Olivier Bernard.

"We did it so many times last year when we were in winning positions and lost it right at the end," said Robson. "And we've done it again.

"We had it won. All we had to do was see the last cross of the match out and we didn't do that. But I can't be dissatisfied with the performance because we played well with a makeshift back four."

Boro were also forced to name a remodelled backline that included Chris Riggott and Stuart Parnaby, and it was the former's defensive howler that allowed Newcastle to take an early lead.

The former Derby centre-half had plenty of time to deal with Aaron Hughes' innocuous through ball but, when he allowed the ball to slip under his foot, Bellamy was left with a clear run on goal.

That generally means little but the Wales international, no doubt spurred by the presence of Patrick Kluivert on the bench, showed commendable composure to round Mark Schwarzer and roll the ball into an empty net.

The rest of the first half was characterised by heavy challenging and hectic charging, although neither Schwarzer nor Given had a meaningful save to make.

That changed after the introduction of Downing, with the homegrown youngster instantly warming Given's gloves with a stinging 30-yard drive that was destined for the top corner.

The 20-year-old scored his first Boro goal to pull the home side level, slotting home from six yards after Hasselbaink's precise cross, but accomodating him in the same side as Zenden poses problems for McClaren.

The easy solution is to drop the Dutch international to left-back, but his defensive weaknesses almost handed the game to Newcastle seven minutes from time.

His clumsy challenge on Shola Ameobi conceded a penalty, and Alan Shearer marked his 500th league appearance with his 267th league goal from the penalty spot.

Jenas should have earned Newcastle's first away win in 15 Premiership games, side-footing wide from six yards after great approach work from Bellamy, but Hasselbaink's late intervention instead gave McClaren only the second opening day point of his Boro career.

The preceding seven days had been dominated by the conjunctivitis virus that had swept through St James' Park. But, ultimately, it was a linesman's temporary blindness that decided Newcastle's fate.

Middlesbrough 2 Newcastle United 2.

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