GIVEN Middlesbrough's first-half performance it is apt they head to Switzerland later this week - a land were attack is a dirty word.

Boro's defensive 4-5-1 formation might go down well in a country famed for its neutrality, but at home, against a Portsmouth side just a point off the relegation places, it left the majority of the crowd questioning why Steve McClaren appeared happy to surrender any possibility of an easily attainable three-point haul.

With Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Mark Viduka on the bench it was left to former Pompey favourite Aiyegbeni Yakubu to lead the line, but such was the paucity of Boro's threat going forward that he hardly had a sniff of goal in the opening 45 minutes at the Riverside.

As a result it was under-pressure Alain Perrin's outfit who grew with confidence and it was no surprise when, after realising the game was there for the taking, they took the lead a minute after the break through Gary O'Neil.

McClaren had gone some way to conceding he had made a tactical gaffe when immediately after the interval he introduced the attack-minded Gaizka Mendieta for Franck Queudrue. And it was the appearance of the Spaniard which galvanised the home side and enabled them to grab a point seven minutes after going behind when Yakubu headed in from a Fabio Rochemback corner.

Hasselbaink and Viduka were both thrown on as Boro sought to snatch an ill-deserved victory but ultimately it was too little too late - just don't expect the manager to admit it on the record.

The England coach stuck to his guns afterwards, arguing that the formation had reaped dividends in the 3-2 away win over Aston Villa last time out and he had felt it could do the same again at home.

Not only that, he insisted, almost in ignorance of the boos ringing out around the ground, he would happily do the same again - something that, on the face of it, made a mockery of the headline 'Action Stations' on McClaren's programme notes.

"You don't throw away something that got you a great result at Aston Villa," he stressed.

The thing is, that was away from home and supporters and pundits alike might have been a little more forgiving had Saturday's game been at Fratton Park.

McClaren, however, was unmoved.

"There is no intention, especially in home games, of setting off in a negative fashion," he said. "But that shape and that team scored three goals at Aston Villa. They failed to do that today.

"We were a lot more positive in the second half and the subs made a difference."

If Boro's line-up left people scratching their heads, Portsmouth's was even stranger with Perrin employing a 3-3-3-1 formation that saw Dario Silva up front and O'Neil, Laurent Robert and Zvonimir Vukic supporting behind.

It was the latter who got the first shot on target of the match, but his tame effort 27 minutes in was easily saved by the returning Mark Schwarzer in the Boro goal.

Two minutes later Pompey should have gone ahead when Robert set Andy Griffin free down the right and he sent a low cross into the centre.

However, Silva, suffering the effects of a long journey back from Uruguay after a World Cup qualifier, appeared to still be in a different time zone and failed to connect with the ball as it ran across goal.

Another shot from Silva, this time over the bar, prompted boos from the Boro faithful and after Yakubu registered his sides first shot on Jamie Ashdown's goal the half-time whistle brought more derision.

The tired Silva and injured Griffin were replaced by Svetoslav Todorov and Giannis Skopelitis and it was the former who created the opening goal.

Cutting to the byline on the right, Todorov pulled the ball back, Vukic got the slightest of touches to divert it into the path of O'Neil and he made no mistake from eight yards out.

The lead was short-lived though, Skopelitis neither use nor ornament as he tracked Yakubu at the far post and the Nigerian was handed the simple task of getting his head to the flag kick.

Rochemback and Massimo Maccarone were replaced as Boro went on the offensive, but although Viduka, George Boateng and Yakubu all had chances to seal a come-from-behind victory they had left themselves too much to do in too little time.

Casting aside his tactics, McClaren believed his side's Jekyll and Hyde personality was more to blame for the dropping of two points.

"These are games we need to be winning and it's disappointing again," he said. "I thought in the second half we came back into the game and at least upped the tempo, had a go and had enough chances to win it, though there weren't many in the game.

"At the present moment we have got no consistency. We are good one game and poor the next and then we come back and are good again. We haven't found the right blend and the right balance at the present moment.

"Away from home our form has been very good, at home it has been very patchy. We can beat Arsenal one week and we lose or draw the next. We are trying to find consistency."

Result: Middlesbrough 1, Portsmouth 1.

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