To dismiss Manchester City as inconsistent would be a damaging slur. No other club so routinely bemuses their supporters, who must occasionally crave the humdrum reassurance of a goalless draw, while a habit of losing on Teesside in traumatic circumstances has now been established. The scoreline and the personnel may have changed, but the result remains the same.

Five months after enduring an 8-1 defeat at the Riverside Stadium, City again succumbed to Middlesbrough last night, although on this occasion anger rather than humiliation was the overriding emotion. A dubious penalty decision infuriated Mark Hughes and his players, although, in one respect, their annoyance was misplaced. Had they taken their chances, three points should have followed.

With Shaun Wright-Phillips appearing to aim a two-fingered gesture at Gareth Southgate near the dugout, in response to the Middlesbrough manager’s accusations of play-acting, goodwill was not in big supply. “I didn’t think he was fouled, he wasn’t happy with the way I spoke to him,” Southgate said. “But I saw him in the tunnel and we’re fine. It’s fair to say that we were both in the wrong. It’s finished.” The FA may not concur with Southgate’s conclusion if pictures prove to show an England player behaving in such a manner, although Hughes did not witness it. “I was shouting at the referee at the time,” he said. “If there was something, I’ll speak to Shaun about it, but I didn’t see it.” Frustration was widespread.

The episode was a fair reflection of a fitful, exasperating and bitty match, for which quality was a stranger in a barren first half. Matters improved as the evening matured, as did Middlesbrough, for whom a first home win since August was deeply welcome.

“I’m really delighted with the performance,” Southgate, whose side had been trounced 5-0 by Chelsea in their previous home match, said. “I wanted us to play without fear.” Eventually, they did so, with Gary O’Neil mustering his debut goal for Middlesbrough in the 94th minute after exchanging passes with Tunçay Sanli. “Gary has been phenomenal,” Southgate said. “He’s tried everything to change his luck: grown his hair, kept it short, grown a beard, shaved it off. But he’s a great kid who wants to learn. Things like that go in the video library.”

If not for the earlier brilliance of Ross Turnbull the outcome may have differed, but Middlesbrough’s goalkeeper consistently thwarted City’s forward line. He was doing it until the end, pushing away shots from Robinho, Stephen Ireland, Wright-Phillips and Vincent Kompany, but if Turnbull was the architect of the result it was Afonso Alves who ensured it.

The Brazil striker, who hit a hat-trick against City in May, was again their executioner, dispatching Middlesbrough’s 6,000th league goal with certainty in the 53rd minute. It was the manner of it that angered Hughes, with Daniel Sturridge adjudged to have fouled David Wheater inside the box as they jostled for the ball. If nothing else, the decision was debatable and debated it was.

“I’m not happy with it,” Hughes said. “I don’t think the lad was in complete control of ball and there was a coming together, but it was more a case of Wheater tangling his legs.

“I’m convinced it wasn’t in the box — the linesman didn’t flag and he was in the best position. If the referee has any doubt, he can’t make that decision and there was certainly some doubt. I didn’t speak to him, because that’s a waste of time.”

Southgate could afford to be less abrasive. “These things balance themselves out,” he said. “It looks like David has one foot in the box and he certainly ends up in the box, but you get your reward for being positive and David was galloping forward. It was a tight call but we were due to get something like that and the whole performance warranted some reward.”

Middlesbrough (4-4-2): R Turnbull — D Wheater, C Riggott, E Pogatetz, A Taylor — J Aliadière, G O’Neil, D Digard (sub: J Arca, 75min), S Downing (sub: A Johnson, 83) — Afonso Alves, Tunçay Sanli. Substitutes not used: B Jones, M Emnes, J Johnson, J Grounds, J Walker. Booked: O’Neil.

Manchester City (4-1-4-1): J Hart — N Onuoha, R Dunne, T Ben-Haim, M Richards — V Kompany — S Wright-Phillips, S Ireland, Elano (sub: G Fernandes, 68), Robinho — D Sturridge (sub: C Evans, 77). Substitutes not used: K Schmeichel, Jô, J Garrido, D Hamann, G Berti. Booked: Kompany, Ireland, Robinho.

Referee: L Mason.