Boro dig deep to book place in UEFA last 16.

(From The Northern Echo)

Byline: SCOTT WILSON

MIDDLESBROUGH'S Riverside pitch has been infected by a plague of worms tunnelling far below the surface to prolong their existence.

But last night the club's footballers were the ones digging deep to ensure their UEFA Cup campaign did not suffer an untimely end.

A 1-0 defeat to Stuttgart ended a run of four consecutive wins but, with Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink and Stuart Parnaby's goals from the away leg counting double, Steve McClaren's men scraped into the last 16 of the competition with their dreams of European glory intact.

Christian Tiffert's early opener subjected the Teessiders to 77 minutes of nerve-jangling tension and, for much of the evening, it was the visitors who looked the more assured.

They were unable to …