ALAN SMITH’S agent really ought to think about securing his client a deal with a bath or shower manufacturer, such is the ludicrous amount of extra time the Leeds forward is spending with the entire dressing room at his disposal.

Just 10 days after his red card while on England duty against Macedonia, the troubled 21-year-old’s uncanny inability to negotiate a full 90 minutes returned when, for the eighth time in his short career, he was sent off, to overshadow a compelling battle of England managers past and future.

But the football often gave way to flashes of bad temper and George Boateng may be lucky to avoid further action after appearing to spit down the leg of Leeds defender Jonathan Woodgate, prompting an unseemly scuffle between the players on the final whistle, during which Boateng actually manhandled one of the officials to wrestle with Lucas Radebe. By then, Boro’s Franck Queudrue had also been sent off so that the game ended with the teams level in number, level on goals but with not too many level heads in evidence.

Smith’s mounting disciplinary problems remain just one of Venables’ concerns after seeing his side’s winless sequence stretch to six games. His stock remains at a low ebb in West Yorkshire as dissent from disenchanted supporters rumbles on with Leeds becalmed in mid-table, despite the securing of a valuable point at a venue, sold out for the first time in three years, which will yield few favours for visiting teams over the season.

Smith was ordered off 14 minutes from time for an ugly challenge aimed at Gareth Southgate. This was as well as a first-half caution for mindlessly kicking the ball away. Venables, who was joined by his Middlesbrough counterpart Steve McClaren in labelling referee Styles “petty”, mused: “Smith’s sending-off was very disappointing. We were in complete control up to that point, but we ended up under the cosh.

“I’m disappointed for Smith, he’s very low, I can’t understand how he got the second yellow. The ball was there to be won.

“It gets to the stage now where Smith must think whether he can go for anything. It’s automatically in people’s minds about him.”

Southgate exacted revenge by scoring Middlesbrough’s second equaliser from close range seven minutes from the end from a corner by Geremi, who struck the bar with a second-half free kick, as Leeds’ numerical disadvantage was ruthlessly exploited.

Queudrue, Middlesbrough’s French full-back, levelled the numbers in stoppage time when receiving his second yellow card for a foul on Leeds goalscorer, Lee Bowyer and his exit was followed by a 20-man free-for-all on the final whistle as the Leeds players took offence after Boateng’s part in an incident we may yet hear more about. Both managers claimed that they had not witnessed what sparked the furore, Venables saying: “I only know what I’ve heard from the players and I think I better just leave it at that.”

McClaren sided with his Leeds counterpart when it came to summarising the referee’s performance. McClaren said: “Football is a physical game, that’s what the fans want to see, good committed play, and I thought the referee was petty in the way he handed out yellow cards. Smith is a whole-hearted player, and, as with Queudrue, I thought he was unlucky to be sent off.”

Neither manager could understand how their respective sides failed to win a hugely enjoyable encounter. Mark Viduka had given the visitors an early lead from the penalty spot, striking his fifth of the season after he had been felled by Ugo Ehiogu to register the first goal Boro had conceded on home soil in over six hours.

Parity was restored on 25 minutes when Cameroon midfield player Joseph-Desire Job bundled in a Geremi cross at the near post under pressure from Woodgate.

Bowyer put Leeds back in the ascendancy 11 minutes after the restart, reacting first to a loose ball eight yards out as Mark Schwarzer could only parry a Harry Kewell shot.

Middlesbrough: Schwarzer, Parnaby, Southgate, Ehiogu, Queudrue, Job, Geremi, Boateng, Greening, Boksic (Nemeth 61min), Maccarone

Leeds: Robinson, Mills, Radebe, Woodgate, Lucic, Barmby, McPhail (Bakke 81min), Bowyer, Kewell, Smith, Viduka (Bridges 81min)

Scorers: Middlesbrough: Job 25, Southgate 83

Leeds: Viduka 11 pen, Bowyer 56

Referee: R Styles

Attendance: 34,723

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