Middlesbrough 2
Riggott 40 Tuncay 53
Portsmouth 0
Middlesbrough 2 Portsmouth 0 May 03 2008
Chris Riggott returned from exile with a goal as Middlesbrough made sure of survival with a 2-0 win over Portsmouth at the Riverside Stadium.
Pompey started the better of the two sides and should have taken the lead in the 19th minute when Milan Baros fired high over the bar from inside the box.
Boro gradually began to come into the game, though, and after Afonso Alves fired just wide, Riggott put them ahead in the 40th minute with a powerful header from Stewart Downing's corner.
The defender, who had just been recalled from his loan spell with Stoke, went close with another header before the break but the hosts did not have to wait long to go 2-0 ahead with Tuncay Sanli heading home another Downing corner in the 52nd minute to put them in control.
Niko Kranjcar went closest to pulling a goal back for Harry Redknapp's troops with three long-range efforts but he could not find the target and the Teessiders held on.