Halfway through the second half, Stuart Pearce was asked for a wave by the Manchester City fans. “Psycho”, as they called him, responded and, contrary to the predictions beforehand, it was not a wave of farewell. Defeat yesterday would surely have spelt the end for the likeable Londoner, but for long periods of this match Middlesbrough appeared to have their collective minds on tomorrow’s FA Cup quarter-final replay at Old Trafford. City were there for the taking, but from Pearce’s point of view, they were very much up against the right team yesterday.

City began encouragingly, with a snap about their work suggesting that all the talk about the importance of the game had not been lost on the dressing-room. Sylvain Distin made a fine clearing header when a fortunate rebound had enabled Stewart Downing to swing in a dangerous cross from the left and, soon afterwards, Michael Johnson’s intelligent through ball gave Joey Barton a yard of space in the Boro penalty area. Barton’s shot from an angle beat Mark Schwarzer’s dive, but rolled a foot wide of the Australian goalkeeper’s right-hand post.

Almost immediately, both teams had their game plans disrupted by injury. Boro, positionally, were unaffected, centre-back Andrew Davies being a like-for-like replacement for the stricken Emanuel Pogatetz, but without a defender on the bench, City’s loss of England right-back Micah Richards prompted a wholesale reorganisation on the part of the visiting side.

Sun Jihai, who joined the club as a defender, switched from midfield to right-back and Pearce sent on the much-criticised Greece striker Georgios Samaras to play on the left side of midfield, pushing forward — together with Darius Vassell on the right — in support of Emile Mpenza.

Not surprisingly perhaps, the game quickly lost what fluency it had, although it was not without the odd moment of excitement.

Downing, with Sun backing off nervously, began to see more of the ball and, cutting in from the left, forced City goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson to dive to save to his left. From the resulting corner, Abel Xavier headed wide.

At the other end, the clumsy-looking Mpenza contrived to head a Michael Ball cross away from, instead of towards, Schwarzer’s goal, Vassell athletically volleyed six feet over the bar and Barton, set up by Mpenza, drew another comfortable save from the goalkeeper.

Such opportunities became increasingly rare as the half progressed, however. Even simple passes started to go astray and as sometimes happens, the falling standard became infectious. It was no surprise to hear the whistle for the break followed by a chorus of booing.

With Manchester United clearly in mind, Southgate initially resisted the temptation to use Mark Viduka and sent on James Morrison for the ineffective Lee Dong-Gook. It made little difference, with City continuing to enjoy the majority of possession. Samaras, who, despite playing without any confidence, is capable of moments of real class and he drew another save from Schwarzer with a glancing header from Vassell’s cross.

The game was drifting when, on the hour, City got the break they so desperately needed. Davies and Xavier got in each other’s way trying to head clear a corner and Mpenza nodded it on for Distin, waiting on the six-yard line, to volley high past Schwarzer.

Now Southgate sent on Viduka, but although Boro began to advance with slightly more conviction — Yakubu shooting just wide — there was no sense that they were going to force an equaliser. Instead, it was City who made the game safe. Barton took advantage of a fortunate rebound to slip the ball into the penalty area for Mpenza to stretch ahead of Davies and beat Schwarzer as he came out to narrow the angle.

The Boro fans were not best pleased and let Southgate know, but by now City were beginning to play with something approaching confidence. Their next three games see them away to Newcastle, home to Charlton Athletic and away to Fulham, before they have to face Liverpool and Arsenal, and Pearce will surely be in charge for the first two at least.

Depending on results in the meantime, the game against Charlton will probably decide whether he is still at the helm at the start of next season, or whether one of Sam Allardyce, Chris Coleman or Paul Simpson, who have each been spoken of over the past week as a potential successor to Pearce, will have begun to make their mark at Eastlands.

As far as Boro are concerned, Viduka, who came within a inch of pulling a goal back in stoppage time, will surely start against United, along with the badly missed Jonathan Woodgate. To say Southgate’s team will go into the match as underdogs is an understatement given the respective form yesterday, although this was only Boro’s second defeat in all competitions this year.

Their unbeaten home record had stretched back to December, while City had not won on Teesside for 30 years - but then, as Pearce will no doubt have mentioned when he joined his old England teammate for a glass of wine last evening, football can be funny like that.

Star man: Sylvain Distin (Manchester City)

Player ratings: Middlesbrough: Schwarzer 7, Parnaby 6, Xavier 5, Pogatetz (Davies 9min, 4), Taylor 5, Cattermole 5, Boateng 5, Euell 6 (Viduka 64min), Downing 5, Lee Dong-Gook 3 (Morrison ht, 5), Yakubu 5

Manchester City: Isaksson 6, Richards (Samaras 22min, 5), Dunne 7, Distin 8, Ball 6, Sun Jihai 5, Barton 6, Hamann 5, Johnson 6, Mpenza 6, Vassell 6 (Beasley 84min)

Scorers: Manchester City: Distin 61, Mpenza 74

Referee: K Stroud

Attendance: 26,427