LUKE Young has warned Middlesbrough's supporters not to expect a repeat of Saturday's long-range wonder goal, and claimed he was more surprised than anyone to see his 52nd-minute strike scorch into the top left-hand corner of Paul Robinson's net.

When the two England internationals met in the aftermath of the 1-1 draw, Robinson revealed he had urged his defenders to 'Let Young shoot'. His confidence should hardly have been misplaced.

Young did not score a single goal in his 76 matches as a Tottenham player, and claimed just four in 208 appearances for Charlton.

His only previous Middlesbrough goal was an own goal in September's 3-0 defeat at West Ham, so it is little wonder he does not expect the floodgates to open despite breaking his duck at the opposite end of the field.

"A lot of players say they score goals like that every day in training," said Young.

"But I don't. I don't think I've ever scored a goal like that, not even on the training ground.

"I've played around 250 games and only got five goals in my whole career. The other ones have been headers or tap-ins from a yard or so out.

"I didn't think I had it in me, so when I was running up to it I wasn't confident at all. I was running on to it so fast, I thought I had to hit it as soon as I could. Once I did, I knew it had a chance.

"After it went in, the fans were shouting 'Shoot' as soon I got on the ball. I certainly haven't had that before, but I've got to let them know that they shouldn't expect too many more."

Young's equaliser helped keep Middlesbrough a point above Tottenham, and enabled the Teessiders to move up to 16th place in the Premier League table.

Their position remains precarious, but the 28-year-old does not expect either of Saturday's opponents to be involved in a relegation battle in the latter stages of the campaign.

"I don't see either club battling for survival," he said. "Let's put it this way, as long as we can stay ahead of Spurs this season, I think that will mean we're comfortably in mid-table.

"I'm not looking at the table at the moment because you don't like to look at it when you're right down there, but we are where we are because we haven't performed well enough on the pitch.

"This might be a little bit of a turning point for us.

"The boys showed great character in the second half and battled to get a deserved point."

The one major downside to Saturday's game was the reaction of the Middlesbrough fans. The final whistle was accompanied by a cacophony of boos, but Young remains confident his team-mates will win the supporters around.

"The reaction of the crowd wasn't great," he said. "And it doesn't help when the fans are booing you.

"But we have to work hard to get them back on side. We've shown a lot of character to get back into the game, and hopefully that will mean something to them."