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Middlesbrough's hopes of Premier League survival were dealt a blow when they were held to a goalless draw by Fulham at the Riverside.

Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer returned to haunt his former club, with whom he spent 11 years, the Australian denying Tuncay Sanli a headed goal with a superb reflex save soon after the half-time break.

Fulham hit the post through Andrew Johnson during the first half but neither side could argue with a point apiece, even if the result that did little to alleviate the problems facing Gareth Southgate's side.

The stalemate saw Boro move up into the final relegation place, but 19th-placed Newcastle have a game in hand on their north-east rivals and play Tottenham on Sunday.

But more importantly, with Sunderland beating Hull City 1-0 at the Stadium of Light, Boro now lie three points adrift of safety with just five games remaining.

Fulham remain in eighth place, two points behind West Ham.

Both teams headed into the game off the back of wins - Boro having recorded a morale-boosting victory over Hull City and Fulham having beaten Manchester City last weekend - and both managers named unchanged starting XIs.

Southgate opted to stick with Marlon King up front alongside Afonso Alves, with Jeremie Aliadiere and Stewart Downing more than willing to support the front men at any opportunity.

And in front of another 30,000 crowd at the Riverside, the home side started confidently, belying their precarious position in the table.

The first chance of the game fell Boro's way, Aliadiere seeing a well-struck half-volley blocked by Aaron Hughes just before the ball reached former crowd favourite Schwarzer.

But the Australian keeper was called into action to hold another Aliadiere effort after good work from Tuncay on 18 minutes, soon after the Turk had created a third early Boro chance for Alves. Again, the shot was blocked after the Brazilian had shot on target.

Boro looked good and the crowd roared their encouragement, but such has been the progress made since Roy Hodgson took over from Lawrie Sanchez in December 2007, Fulham are no pushovers.

And sure enough, it was not long before the visitors found their feet and began to enjoy more possession.

Bobby Zamora, who has just two league goals to his name this season, could even have broken the deadlock moments before the half-hour mark, but the striker's lack of confidence in front of goal was telling as he allowed a dangerous Simon Davies cross elude him under pressure from Brad Jones.

Fulham's ascendency in the game was nearly rewarded five minutes later when Johnson struck the inside of the upright with a slightly-deflected right-foot curler from the edge of the box.

Zamora then sent a curling half-volley from the edge of the box just wide of the other upright with Jones sprawling to reach the ball and the teams headed in goalless at the break - a fair reflection of an even opening period.

With Boro facing a tough run-in to the end of the season, Southgate knew nothing but victory would do and his charges responded to his half-time team talk.

Boro burst out of the blocks after the break and only Schwarzer's world-class save minutes after the restart maintained the deadlock.

Schwarzer's intervention - a big, strong hand to paw away Tuncay's header - and indeed his overall performance, could almost have been scripted - he made 446 appearances for Boro and before his departure for pastures new last summer was widely admired on Teesside.

He was again called into action moments later, this time to deny Downing a drive on goal before he was forced into tipping a tricky Tony McMahon cross-shot over the bar to safety.

But the more the second half wore on, the more desperate Boro's play became and the less likely they looked like scoring.

Indeed, Fulham could have taken all three points after a host of late chances - Clint Dempsey fired just wide, Zamora blazed over the bar and substitute Zoltan Gera failed to pounce, all in the final 10 minutes.

So how tough is that run-in for Boro? Just the small matter of Arsenal away and champions Manchester United at home in their next two games.

They are followed by a Tyne-Tees derby at Newcastle before Aston Villa visit the Riverside and a final day fixture at West Ham.

Mike Hytner / Eurosport