David Wheater's second goal in three games gave Middlesbrough a 2-1 win at Bristol City to earn Boro a place in the FA Cup fourth round.The two sides had been difficult to separate in the fourth round of last year's competition, with Gareth Southgate's men needing a penalty shoot-out to dispose of City following two 2-2 draws.
City were a League One outfit then and kicked off this one as the joint leaders of the Coca-Cola Championship but although Liam Fontaine gave them hope of going one better this time with an early opener, Gary Johnson's side failed to rise to the occasion afterwards.
Stewart Downing took advantage of an error by home goalkeeper Adriano Basso to equalise before the break and centre-back Wheater popped up in the right place at the right time to cap the best move of a disappointing match.
Boro had arrived at Ashton Gate without skipper George Boateng, who has been the subject of intense speculation that he could soon be moving on, and suspended midfielder Gary O'Neil.
And with Liverpool their next Premier League opponents it was no surprise that a hamstring niggle also kept defender Jonathan Woodgate on the sidelines.
Southgate put his trust in youth by giving 20-year-old Ben Hutchinson a first start as a lone striker, with Tuncay Sanli and Dong-Gook Lee relegated to the bench, bringing Wheater in at the back and restoring Lee Cattermole and Adam Johnson to a five-man midfield.
With six wins from their last eight games, City's only change was an enforced one with Jamie McCombe missing out but his replacement, Fontaine, soon made his mark by opening the scoring.
Poor defending by Wheater allowed Tamas Vasko a free header from Jamie McAllister's free-kick into the box and the former Fulham man was able to sweep the ball past Mark Schwarzer before any defender could intervene.
Fontaine is an infrequent scorer; so much so that Johnson had engaged him in an odd bet earlier in the season. A goal against Wolves, after more than 100 previous scoreless games, meant the City boss had to show his backside in a local shop window. So far he has yet to do so and it remains to be seen whether this goal will speed up the process.
Boro had been struggling, with Cattermole putting himself under unnecessary pressure by getting himself needlessly booked in the sixth minute for a reckless lunge on McAllister.
Downing set up Hutchinson in the box but saw the rookie screw his shot hopelessly wide. The England man decided he could do better himself and duly proved it with a 37th-minute equaliser although Basso should not have allowed the shot from the edge of the box to squirm past him.
The second half took a while to get going although Lee Johnson saw a free-kick flick up off the wall but Schwarzer was not fooled and was able to save on his line.
The Australian was unable to hold on to an angled drive from Ivan Sproule however and the loose ball fell to Marvin Elliott. The former Millwall man fired in a shot straight away that hit a defender but his appeals for use of an arm were ignored by referee Chris Foy.
Darren Byfield had been labouring on his own up front but was having so much trouble holding up the ball it was no surprise when Johnson made a double change, with David Noble also making way for Lee Trundle and Enoch Showunmi.
Southgate sent on Tuncay in the 66th minute and six minutes later Wheater made it 2-1 to the Premier League side, finishing off a fine passing move involving Luke Young and Cattermole with a cool side-footed finish after ghosting into space in the City box.
City pressed for an equaliser but only occasionally and the final whistle
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