MALCOLM CHRISTIE scored his first goal for 21 months to earn Middlesbrough a draw against his former club at Villa Park.

Christie has been dogged by injury problems since arriving at the Riverside Stadium from Derby four years ago. It was only his 14th start for Boro but there was elation at last for the striker and it needed a Gareth Barry penalty to deny the visitors their first away win of the season.

Villa boss Martin O'Neill employed Juan Pablo Angel as the only striker, reverting to the 4-5-1 system so successful at the start of the season in the absence of the injured Chris Sutton.

Villa captain Barry supplied the first cross of the game, but Emanuel Pogatetz had no problem in shepherding the ball back to Mark Schwarzer. At the other end, a pass from James Morrison almost picked out the run of Malcolm Christie . . . but the ball ran away from the Boro striker.

Goals from Villa defender Olof Mellberg are a rare commodity, and his attempt from the edge of the Boro box ended up in the Holte End after Liam Ridgewell had laid the ball into his path.

Ridgewell then got on the end of a Gavin McCann free-kick and headed the ball across goal into the danger area . . .but no one attacked it.

The game was not a classic but Villa put together one of the few free-flowing moves of the opening half hour when a cross from Mellberg was turned back across goal by Angel to Isaiah Osbourne whose header was saved by Schwarzer.

There was a rare chance for Boro when a centre from Taylor picked out Aiyegbeni Yakubu's run and he sent a glancing header wide.

But Villa were soon back on the offensive and Schwarzer was forced to turn a 35yard piledriver from full-back Wilfred Bouma around the post. Then a fine move saw McCann's precise pass pick out the run of Barry who managed to stay on-side.

His low centre was just behind Gary Cahill but the centre-back still managed to get in a back heel at full stretch which went past the far post.

Agbonlahor had a shot blocked on the edge of the box but Boro were generally quite comfortable in snuffing out the threat of the home side in the opening 45 minutes. Schwarzer produced a brave save to deny Barry at point blank range from Agbonlahor's cross before Boro went ahead a minute before the interval through Malcolm Christie.

Arca had a shot blocked but Yakubu stuck a leg out and deflected the ball into the path of Christie who looked a yard offside before he fired past Thomas Sorensen.

But in injury time, Villa drew level through a Gareth Barry penalty . . . the eighth awarded to O'Neill's side this season . . . after Petrov was harshly adjudged to have been brought down by Schwarzer.

In the second half, Agbonlahor sent a header straight at Schwarzer from a Barry cross but the game was still struggling to move out of second gear.

But the home side, unbeaten at Villa Park this season, started to build some momentum and Mellberg came within inches of putting them in front. A cross from Barry deflected off Xavier into the path of the Sweden international at the far post but his header went just past the post. Ridgewell blocked a 30-yard pile-driver from Yakubu while Milan Baros volleyed just wide from Barry's cross . . . the last decent chance either side had of sealing a win.