Middlesbrough scored twice in the final 10 minutes and rallied to beat Chelsea 2-1 on Wednesday, leaving Manchester United alone at the top of the English Premier League standings.
Two-time defending champions Chelsea led on a 16th-minute goal from Andriy Shevchenko before Emanuel Pogatetz equalised and substitute Mark Viduka scored in injury time to win it for Middlesbrough.
”I don’t like to lose, that’s obvious. But when I lose and I feel the referee was good, the opponent did their best and we can only blame ourselves. I have to be correct with other people,” Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said.
”Middlesbrough deserve that.”
Manchester United moved ahead with a 3-0 win at Charlton and manager Alex Ferguson was happy to take advantage.
”It’s only two games of course, but we have the will to win the title, the players to do it and the spirit in the camp — and we have a great chance this year,” Ferguson said.
The scores in other matches were: Aston Villa 2, Reading 1; Blackburn 1, Everton 1; Fulham 1, Bolton 1; and Manchester City 0, Portsmouth 0.
At the Riverside Stadium, Shevchenko had scored against the run of play, converting a cross from Wayne Bridge. He also had a free kick palmed away by ‘Boro goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer in the first half.
Chelsea midfielder Arjen Robben was injured during the warm-up and replaced by new acquisition Salomon Kalou, who missed a scoring chance just before half-time.
Mourinho was unhappy with the attitude of his side, saying it was ”not a Jose Mourinho team”.
”The point is, we know why we were champions twice, we have to know,” Mourinho added. ”I know and I think the players also know why, and it was not with this attitude, that’s for sure.”
Pogatetz headed in Fabio Rochemback’s free kick in the 80th minute and Viduka scored from close range to give manager Gareth Southgate his first win as a manager in the Premier League.
Southgate (35) retired as a player after last season and took over from Steve McClaren, who became manager of the English national team. Southgate said he was impressed with how his side rebounded from their opening 3-2 loss to Reading, where they squandered a 2-0 lead.
”I’m so proud of the players because they took a lot of stick from what happened at the weekend,” Southgate said. ”To recover from that in the way that they did and to play the way they did tonight showed a lot of guts.
”To go in a goal down and play the way we did in the second half showed tremendous character.”
At Charlton, Darren Fletcher gave Man United the lead in the 49th minute. Louis Saha scored the second in the 80th, and substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made it 3-0 in injury time. It was Solksjaer’s first goal in three years after a series of serious injuries.
”That was a great moment for all of us, to see a player persevere through a torrid time. He never lost faith and he got his repayment tonight,” Ferguson said.
United played without Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes, both starting their three-match suspensions for being sent off in pre-season games at a tournament in The Netherlands.
However, new signing Michael Carrick dressed for the match and was available despite a pre-season ankle injury that was expected to sidelined him until September.
Reading took the lead when Kevin Doyle headed the ball past Villa goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen in the fourth minute. The Premier League newcomers were reduced to 10 men in the 35th minute when Ibrahima Sonko was sent off for a foul on Villa’s Luke Moore.
Juan Pablo Angel converted the resulting penalty and Gareth Barry scored the winner for Villa in the 61st minute.
At Ewood Park, Blackburn led on Benni McCarthy’s goal in the 50th minute. Tim Cahill equalised for Everton in the 84th.
A last-minute penalty from Jimmy Bullard earned Fulham a 1-1 with Bolton, who led when El-Hadji Diouf converted a penalty in the 73rd minute.
Portsmouth midfielder Pedro Mendes suffered a seizure after being struck in the head by the forearm of Manchester City defender Ben Thatcher during the club’s 0-0 draw. Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp said Mendes would spend the night at a Manchester hospital after the challenge by Thatcher early in the second half sent him into the advertising boards. — Sapa-AP