WEST HAM fans may still have their doubts about the managerial qualities of Gianfranco Zola, but one thing that will not keep them awake during the long winter nights that was their biggest concern under both Alan Pardew and Alan Cur-bishley is that Zola will ever forsake the old East London Academy’s finest tradition of pass and move football.

Zola, a supreme artist himself as a player, is clearly encouraging his players to splash as much colour on the Premier League canvas as possible even when it sometimes ends up looking like something out of Tate Modern.

After four successive defeats most managers would have not only parked the team bus on the Riverside pitch but attempted to board up the goal as well.

Zola, clearly not like most managers, instead instructed his men to trust in their footballing skills while giving only a second ever start to 18-year-old striker Freddie Sears. He was handsomely rewarded on both counts, with Sears outstanding not only in his striking role but in linking up the play as West Ham formed their familiar pleasing triangle shapes all over the pitch.

Of course after 22 games without a clean sheet, attack was the only form of defence for the Hammers, with Sears inevitably involved in the opening goal.

He opened up Boro’s defence with a squirming run into the box and a lay-off to Luis Boa Morte on the left. Hayden Mullins met his cross with a left foot air shot but had the balance to swivel and score off a post with his right, firing into the top-right corner of the net from 10 yards out.

So nervous were Middlesbrough that it took them 42 minutes to muster their first shot, a tame effort by Afonso Alves that went directly into Robert Green’s midriff.

And before their late recovery the game should have been out of sight, with 20-year-old Jack Collison, who was also making only his second start, missing a sitter. Craig Bellamy, who formed a fine partnership with young Sears, laid off the final pass of an exquisite move only for Collison to hit his effort straight at Ross Turnbull.

Mullins almost added a second goal in the 40th minute when he lashed a long-range shot at goal that Turnbull watched fly just over the bar.

You sensed West Ham might regret wasting their superiority when Robert Green had to make a fine save from Gary O’Neil as Middlesbrough finally began to exert some pressure.

And just as Green was dreaming of that elusive clean sheet Mido came on for Alves - Gareth Southgate’s last throw of the substitution dice.

When he drew a foul on the edge of the box there was no chance of any teammate suggesting that he would like to take the free kick.

Mido lined it up before smashing his shot through the wall and under Green for the equaliser before running away to headbutt one of the corner flags by way of celebration.

West Ham’s defenders must have felt like self-harming as well, but right at the end they might have registered the win they deserved when Turnbull made successive saves from Collison and the black-gloved substitute Lee Bowyer.

Despite a win over Manchester City at the Riverside in midweek, Boro are still having trouble believing there is no place like home after their 5-0 mauling by Chelsea a fortnight ago.

Their players have probably been having counselling ever since so it was little wonder that manager Southgate said that he was “really pleased with the point”.

He added: “That’s the type of game we’ve lost in the past. We were really flat in the first half but I expected that after coming off after such a high on Wednesday night.

“West Ham were in a position where they had to get something from the game and they put in a couple of youngsters to give them energy.”

Zola, disappointed not to take all three points, still has many of his big-name stars in the treatment room but the performances of Sears and Collison will encourage him that the future is bright.

He said: “It was a difficult game for experienced players so you can imagine what it was like for them. But I thought they were fantastic. I’m disappointed we didn’t win after a performance like that but it could prove to be a huge point for us.”

Star man: Craig Bellamy (West Ham) Referee: A Marriner Attendance: 25,164

MIDDLESBROUGH: Turnbull 6, Wheater 6 (Hoyte 45min, 6), Riggott 7, Pogatetz 6, Taylor 6, Aliadiere 5, O’Neil 6, Digard 7 (Arca 57min, 6), Downing 5, Tuncay 5, Alves 5 (Mido 67min)

WEST HAM: Green 7, Ilunga 6, Upson 7, Collins 7, Neill 6, Boa Morte 6 (Bowyer 85min), Mullins 7, Collison 6, Faubert 6, Sears 7 (Etherington 74min), Bellamy 8