Kenny error hands Boro victory

Kenny repelled everything Boro could throw at him for 113 minutes until he palmed Mido's deflected shot over the line as it came back off the post to give Boro a 1-0 victory.

The keeper had earlier made fine saves from Afonso Alves twice, Luke Young, Stewart Downing and Tuncay Sanli, while James Beattie could have won it for the Coca-Cola Championship side in the final minute of normal time but shot just wide.

On the balance of play, Boro were good value for their victory, but having dominated for long periods, they had failed to make the most of their pressure until they were handed a large slice of good fortune in front of a crowd of 28,108.

However, had Alves had his way, Boro could have been all but home and dry by the time the whistle brought an end to the first half.

The Brazilian could barely believe his luck when nine minutes into his full debut, he ran unmarked onto Fabio Rochemback's corner in front of goal.

A square connection would have seen the ball fly into the net with Kenny stranded, but his glancing touch simply sent it wide of the far post and let the visitors off the hook.

But a man who scored 49 goals in as many games for previous club Heerenveen was never likely to dwell on that miss or to have to wait long for another opportunity, and his chance duly arrived 10 minutes before the break.

Matthew Kilgallon was booked for his trip on Alves 30 yards out, but it was Kenny who had to pick up the pieces and the South American blasted in a dipping, swerving free-kick which the keeper did well to parry.

Downing had earlier gone close when he exchanged passes with Rochemback and then dragged a right-foot shot just across the face of goal and Beattie almost won it for the Blades fired agonisingly wide from Gary Speed's low cross in the final minutes of normal time, but the tie was destined to go another half-hour.