Strength in depth boosts Boro

Middlesbrough 1 Birmingham City

Names like Szilard Nemeth, Joseph-Desire Job, Geremi Ndjitap, Jonathan Greening and Massimo Maccarone may not be household currency even in the homes of Teesside, but unremarked Middlesbrough have slipped into sixth place in the Premier League.

Unnoticed, their manager has assembled a squad – and this was a squad victory as they were without mainstays Gareth Southgate, George Boateng and Juninho – with a surprising depth of skill.

The winner, a 25-yard free-kick of rare beauty, came from a floppy-haired French left-back, Frank Queudrue. "It is important that you have players capable of winning games," said McClaren.

On the hour Nemeth, a Slovakian Dennis Bergkamp without the final execution but with a turn of pace which surprised Darren Purse enough to win the free-kick from which Queudrue scored, indicated that one of his hamstrings was tightening. McClaren turned to his substitutes.

"I've got a bench with Alen Boksic on it and he comes on and performs like that," said McClaren of the Croatian whose 30 minutes should have resulted in an avalanche of goals. That it did not is this team of fledgling talents' Achilles heel. On Saturday, for all their intelligent touches, they struggled to break down battling Birmingham, and when they did Boksic failed to find the killer finish.

McClaren felt there might have been mitigation in the form of referee Andy D'Urso. "It wasn't so much the rash of cards or the little incidents, but it was a poor performance because he didn't let the game flow," said McClaren.

It was a theme Birmingham's manager, Steve Bruce, warmed to. "There wasn't a bad tackle in the game but we ended up with seven or eight booked," he said. Naturally, Robbie Savage is now one of those staring at a suspension as he took his season's cautionary tally to three in the 38th minute. Five minutes later, judging by the distance he put between himself and the referee following an off-the-ball altercation with Maccarone, he seemed to be fearing something worse. The Italian was booked and Savage escaped punishment.

Bruce conceded, though, that the competitiveness of Savage and Aliou Cissé could not provide the spark of inspiration that was the difference between the teams.

Goal: Queudrue (29) 1-0.

Middlesbrough (3-5-2): Schwarzer 6; Ehiogu 5, Cooper 5, Vidmar 6; Stockdale 6, Greening 7, Geremi 7, Job 7 (Wilkshire, 74 5), Queudrue 6; Nemeth 8 (Boksic, 62 6), Maccarone 6. Substitutes not used: Marinelli, Whelan, Crossley (gk).

Birmingham City (4-4-2): Vaesen 7; Kenna 5 (Kirovski 81), Purse 6, Cunningham 5, Grainger 6 (Lazaridis, 46 5); Devlin 6, Savage 7, Cissé 7, D Johnson 5; John 4 (Horsfield, 66 5), Morrison 4. Substitutes not used: Powell. Bennett (gk).

Referee: A D'Urso (Essex) 4.

Bookings: Middlesbrough: Maccarone, Greening, Boksic. Birmingham: Purse, Cissé, Savage, Morrison.

Man of the Match: Nemeth.

Attendance: 29,689.