Portuguese starlet Vaz-Te stooped to head home a pinpoint cross from Jay-Jay Okocha on the hour after young winger Adam Johnson had given Boro the lead just a few moments earlier.

Boro had a whole host of players missing from their side with the likes of Gareth Southgate, Mark Viduka, George Boateng, Chris Riggott and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink just some of the regulars out of contention for the evening's contest.

Bolton to a lesser extent also had players on the sidelines as hugely popular wing back Ricardo Gardner joined Khalilou Fadiga, Bruno N'Gotty and El-Hadji Diouf on the treatment table this week following Sunday's 1-0 defeat away at Tottenham Hotspur.

The Wanderers had dominated the opening period by far but a mixure of wasted chances and good goalkeeping prevented them from nudging ever closer to a place in next season's newly formatted Intertoto Cup competition.

In fact, the hosts could have gone in front as early as the opening minute when Vaz-Te collected an excellently accurate cross field pass from Okocha but the teenager was foiled bravely by Middlesbrough's third choice goalkeeper Ross Turnbull, who was only in the visitors starting eleven due to the absence of Australian custodians Mark Schwarzer and Bradley Jones.

Skipper Kevin Nolan also had a key chance to put the Lancashire side into the lead in the fourth minute but he could not get enough power on his effort to beat Turnbull after makeshift defender Henrik Pedersen had some showed good determination in the build up.

Referee Howard Webb was to then quick to show his first caution of the evening to youngster Vaz-Te after the 19-year old spoiled an excellent run by diving when under pressure in the Middlesbrough area.

Boro's promising full back Tony McMahon was constantly being given a torrid time by his opposite number Vaz-Te who was looking hungry to hit the back of the net for the second home game in succession after the recent win over Charlton Athletic.

Hidetoshi Nakata wasted a set piece by firing a free kick well over Turnbull's bar and into the South Stand and Kevin Davies was to follow suit nine minutes before the interval when misconnecting with a volley after Nakata had delivered a cross from the left.

The second half started with quite a shock as Boro winger Johnson cut in from the left flank under no challenge from Nicky Hunt to fire the ball past Jaaskelainen for the nights opening goal.

Whilst finished with some precision by the England U20 international it was certainly a strike which was against the run of play as Bolton had held the majority share of the possession for the first hour of the game.

Middlesbrough's lead lasted just a couple of minutes as the excellent Vaz-Te stooped powerfully to head home a curling Jay-Jay Okocha cross past the otherwise unflawed goalkeeper Turnbull who was a credit to his side throughout the evening given his limited experience in Premiership football.

With just over 20 minutes remaining Middlesbrough's tenacious French full back Franck Queudrue fired in a trademark free kick which Jussi Jaaskelainen spilled but the long serving Finnish international was quick on his feet to deny the follow up shot from close range.

Both sides made late changes in an attempt to force a win in the final moments but no breakthrough could be made as the two teams kept it very tight defensively. Bolton will now wrap up their season on Sunday afternoon as they welcome the already relegated Birmingham City to the Reebok Stadium.

Bolton Wanderers: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Nicky Hunt, Tal Ben-Haim, Abdoulaye Faye, Henrik Pedersen, Jay-Jay Okocha, Ivan Campo (Jared Borgetti), Hidetoshi Nakata (Gary Speed), Kevin Nolan (Stelios Giannakopoulos), Kevin Davies, Ricardo Vaz-Te

Subs Not Used: Ian Walker, Radhi Jaidi

Boro: Ross Turnbull, Tony McMahon (Andrew Davies), Ugo Ehiogu, David Wheater, Franck Queudrue, Doriva, Lee Cattermole, Ray Parlour, Adam Johnson (Andrew Taylor), Yakubu Ayegbeni, Malcolm Christie (Massimo Maccarone)

Subs Not Used: David Knight, Jason Kennedy

Referee:

Howard Webb

Attendance:

22,733

Booked:

Ricardo Vaz-Te (Bolton)

Lee Cattermole (Middlesbrough)

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