Middlesbrough 1 Tottenham 0: Gareth Southgate of Middlesbrough said: "We didn't play as well as we can"; the Tottenham manager Martin Jol said: "We weren't on top of our game to say the least." Honesty was not in question at the Riverside, honesty of opinion, honesty of endeavour.
Set this aside for a moment, however, and feel the quality. Feel the thin ambition of Boro and their play-like-an-away-team-at-home philosophy. Feel the shoddy workmanship of the Tottenham midfield. If Michael Carrick knew he was going to play like this he would have stayed in bed.
How to explain such anti-football? It is tempting to say so great was the prize, the potential clinching of a Uefa Cup spot, that both managers and players were emasculated by the possibility of losing. And that the tension made for a false, restricted afternoon. But no. In their way Boro and Spurs were true to themselves.
Under Steve McClaren, Boro like nothing better than playing ambush football. George Boateng's early goal gave Boro scope to indulge and they retreated in such numbers Jol cried afterwards: "Even Hasselbaink is on the halfway line." Yet Jol admitted Spurs knew of the trap and said the visitors would have played like this if they had scored first. That was Plan A. His concern was that armed with this knowledge his team lacked the creativity to overwhelm Boro's seizure of this tactic. Devoid of imagination, Carrick's inaccuracy was equalled by Sean Davis' inconsequentiality. Plan B came unstuck, too, yet Spurs could have copied Chelsea and gone for power - Plan C.
But Spurs, it seems, can only produce that at home. They had one shot on target and forced a whole three corners. Frantically challenging for Europe? One thinks not. Their record on the road had suggested as much: 11 goals away all season and no away league victory since St Stephen's Day.
No wonder Jol spoke of his amazement at still being in contention for Europe. The insinuation was the players have over-achieved since he succeeded Jacques Santini. Jol then mentioned injuries to "six" players and his "young" team, but never fully addressed the reasons for this display.
In Southgate and Boateng, Boro have characters who can play. Southgate did everything required of a captain and centre-half. Boateng careered into challenges, as he does, and scored. From one of Carrick's many misplaced passes, the ball zipped from Stewart Downing to Hasselbaink to Boudewijn Zenden and Szilard Nemeth. His first touch was poor but he recovered to tee up Boateng, whose shot was diverted by Ledley King past Radek Cerny.
Middlesbrough promptly sat back and thought of Manchester City. Boro can be expected to go there looking for a point, enough for Europe, though three might yet see them finish fifth. Fifth? Honestly? No wonder McClaren fell off his chair in front of the press.
