FOR a week, the blanket of mist hanging over Teesside had become heavier by the day. Mutinous mutterings in the foreign ranks grew louder and the Football Association deducted three points for Middlesbrough’s failure to show at Blackburn. Yesterday, spring-like sunshine broke through, warming the darkest corners of the Riverside Stadium and another sell-out crowd welcomed their latest import, pounds 2.7m Gianluca Festa.
And, for much of the game, Boro had a spring in their step. Fabrizio Ravanelli rolled up his white flag, and scored a penalty before being sent off for protesting – to the referee, not the Italian papers – too much. Festa, who has gone from warming the Inter bench to trying to plug Boro’s leaky defence, scrambled a goal 22 minutes into his debut. What is more, the side who last week had just one shot against Southampton created many chances before Emerson clinched the game with another penalty in the 71st minute.Boro must have felt the weather changing in the 13th minute. In the same penalty area where last week Clayton Blackmore had been sent off for handball, Dejan Stefanovic rose to divert Ravanelli’s left-wing cross from Mikkel Beck’s head.

The Serb received only a yellow card but, so keen was Ravanelli to celebrate his successful spot kick that he fell over himself and forgot his trademark shirt-over-the-head gesture.Within 10 minutes Boro were two up. Juninho’s swinging corner was flicked on at the near post by Beck and Festa on the far stooped to score There should have been more. In the 27th minute, Emerson ploughed through midfield, Juninho slipped through Wednesday’s defence and, as he was bundled over, the ball fell to Beck. A third looked certain, but credit Kevin Pressman for the save.And credit his team for never giving up.

Their reward came when Festa mis-timed a challenge in the centre circle, Humphreys rushed forward before sliding the ball sideways for Pembridge to score.After the break, Boro pressed for victory. The temperature rose in the 55th minute when Emerson’s drive from 25 yards burnt Pressman’s fingers And it reached boiling point on 69 minutes. Ravanelli’s goal was ruled out for offside and he was cautioned for his remonstrating. A minute later, another offside decision went against him and Ravanelli saw red.

Barely down the tunnel, Ravanelli must have been angrier still when Pressman tripped Alan Moore and Emerson scored from the spot.When Pembridge tapped home Regi Blinker’s cross in the 79th minute the Owls had a hope of continuing their 13- game unbeaten run but, in a frantic finale, Juninho produced a last-minute twist to score a delightful goal.The Teeside fog has lifted a little, but Boro are still bottom One win does not make a spring.. IF the 18-year-old Jamie Carragher plays for Liverpool into his thirties, he is unlikely to score many more psychologically valuable goals than the one that began the disintegration of Aston Villa at Anfield yesterday. The unconvincing Premiership leaders’ recent problems of disappointing home form and a shortage of goals were looming large again, when Carragher, a member of last season’s FA Youth Cup-winning side who had been drafted into the first-team starting line-up for the first time, met Stig Inge Bjornebye’s corner with a neat header past Mark Bosnich’s left hand.
Until that 50th-minute breakthrough Liverpool had been, despite long periods when they dominated possession, the less incisive side. Afterwards, they were carried along by a veritable deluge of goals that made a mockery of their recent drought and recalled instead their three in eight minutes at the start of the equivalent fixture last season.Within eight minutes of Carragher’s opener, Bjornebye was again the provider for a decisive header, this time from the previously subdued Stan Collymore. The build-up had hinted at the old Liverpool confidence and quality, with Steve McManaman ushering the ball out to the left flank for Bjornebye to complete a sweeping move.Jamie Redknapp, back in the side for the first time in a month, was largely responsible for the third five minutes later. His shot proved too powerful for Bosnich to hold and Robbie Fowler nipped in to complete the job.There was no way back for Villa after that, but they had grounds for feeling that they had wasted their own opportunities to take control of this game.