WHEN the relegation shake-up concludes in May, Terry Venables and his extended management team may look upon this result against their fellow strugglers to be just as crucial as either of the wins over Chelsea and Liverpool.

If that 86th-minute chance had fallen to anyone except Alen Boksic, Boro could have found themselves four points behind the Sky Blues.

Instead they are just a point, and a place, below Gordon Strachan's team, and if come May 20 they can finish above Coventry City then that should guarantee their Premiership place.

The lack of firepower is Boro's main problem, and it appears not to have gone unnoticed by Mr Venables.

Goals do win matches but the Venables, and George Graham for that matter, school of thought appears to be sort out your defence first and the rest will take care of itself.

So far so good, but the goalscoring facts speak for themselves.

Without the Croatian they appear to have no forward capable of doing what they're expected to do.

Before Saturday the last forward to score in the correct goal for Boro was ironically a certain Noel Whelan, who made sure he left his mark on Saturday's game for all the wrong reasons.

That goal was back in October at Ipswich when Whelan came on as a substitute for Hamilton Ricard.

At the opposite end of the pitch Venables' impact has been immediate with, bizarre as it was, only one goal conceded in the last four games.

On Saturday both sides packed their midfields and played with one out and out striker, which meant chances were few and far between in the opening half.

Venables summed up the first period saying: "I don't think they had a chance at goal. We've done our job right and they're in front."

Certainly without Whelan's cameo display, the first half was far from entertaining.

Gordon Strachan must have forgotten it was the 26-year-old's birthday, because Whelan spent most of his 67 minutes on the pitch reminding his former manager that he was around.

A shot cleared off the line, penalty appeals, two chances missed, a run-in with David Thompson, and to cap it all an early candidate for own goal of the decade.

After the game Strachan said: "Noel must have thought it was my birthday. It wasn't the greatest of clearances."

His new boss Terry Venables was a little more generous saying: "I thought Noel worked very hard."

Speaking about the goal he said: "He had more time than he thought he had to clear, but sometimes when you play against your old club you can try too hard."

Whelan's first impact on the game came just after the quarter hour when a mazy run by Karembeu saw the Frenchman lay the ball into the path of Ricard.

His effort from the edge of the box cannoned off Gary Breen into the path of Whelan, whose effort from an acute angle was superbly cleared off the line by Barry Quinn.

Chances were limited to long range efforts as both teams struggled to break down the opposition's defence before Whelan's moment to forget.

A corner from David Thompson on the left wasn't claimed by Mark Schwarzer and fell to Whelan.

With no Sky Blues players around him, Whelan flung his right boot at the ball and buried it in the top corner.

The away fans, who couldn't have numbered more than 200, erupted into chants of 'there's only one Noel Whelan'.

A couple of minutes later and the former Coventry star was again in the thick of the action. Paul Okon fed the ball into his path in the Coventry box and as he tried to go round Chris Kirkland, the goalkeeper appeared to clip his ankles.

Whelan continued the penalty argument with Coventry winger Thompson after the half time whistle with both players being kept apart by teammates.

The second half saw Venables revert to two direct centre-forwards, replacing the unlucky Karembeu with Boksic.

Boro started with more purpose and Whelan had two chances to equalise, set up by good through balls from Hamilton Ricard and Okon.

The first was saved by the legs of Kirkland, the second was fired well over the bar.

After that Whelan's miserable day was completed when he was replaced by Deane.

With Boro pressing hard for the equaliser gaps started to appear in their back line and a clever back heel from Peruvian Zunega released Bellamy whose effort was well saved by Schwarzer.

After a 25-yard Keith O'Neill free-kick was turned away by Kirkland, it appeared it wasn't to be Boro's day until Boksic was played through by Ricard on the right of the box with three minutes to go.

The Croatian found himself in the same position as Whelan had been twice earlier in the half. And as if to show his younger teammate how it should be done, he calmly stroked the ball past Kirkland into the corner.

Although Curtis Fleming had the chance to secure all three points a minute later, with an effort well wide of the goal, Saturday belonged to Noel Whelan and it will be a birthday he won't forget in a hurry.