Viduka denied fairytale return

The Australian claimed his first goal in a black and white shirt and his 150th in British football 13 minutes from time as the Magpies twice took the lead at the Riverside Stadium.

However, former team-mate and Sunderland old boy Julio Arca ensured the spoils were shared when he levelled three minutes later.

A fiercely-contested encounter was not always of the highest quality, but that could not be said of the finishing on display with Charles N'Zogbia opening the scoring with a stunning 22nd-minute effort.

Mido cancelled out the lead within six minutes, expertly rounding Steve Harper after being played in by Fabio Rochemback, and although Sam Allardyce may have left Teesside bemoaning his side's failure to keep Boro out, the result was just about right.

The visitors went ahead with 22 minutes gone when full-back N'Zogbia produced a moment of rare brilliance.

The Frenchman was picked out on the left by Peter Ramage and cut inside Boateng before unleashing a superb curling shot which was simply too good for keeper Mark Schwarzer.

But Boro responded swiftly and were back on terms within six minutes when Mido ran on to Rochemback's beautifully-weighted pass over the top, held off Steven Taylor and then rounded Harper to shoot into an empty net.

Viduka's big moment finally arrived on 77 minutes when he accepted N'Zogbia's pass, deftly turned Woodgate and after teeing the ball up, smashed a shot past the helpless Schwarzer.

However, Boro were not done and it was all square within three minutes when Arca latched on to a clearance and drilled a left-foot shot into the bottom corner.