The 38-year-old is as mild-mannered a man as you could hope to meet, but he was never afraid of a challenge on the pitch and is not about to shy away from one off it after making the step-up into management.

Boro went into yesterday's derby with Sunderland having had to deal with Stewart Downing's transfer request and speculation that Tuncay Sanli, Gary O'Neil and Mido could leave Teesside this month.

They emerged with a hard-fought point having come within eight minutes of collecting their first Barclays Premier League win in nine attempts, but in the circumstances, Southgate was happy enough after an intensely difficult week.

He said: "The thing that stands out for me more than anything else is that this is a cut-throat industry.

"Everybody outside your football club will try to destabilise your football club, and what players and fans have to realise is that's why it's important they stick together and that our club stays strong, because everybody else is trying to bring you down.

"That's what we are having to deal with at the moment. Everything that we possibly could have thrown at us we are getting thrown at us.

"That's why it was crucial that we got something from the afternoon.

"We all left disappointed not to have three points, but if you can't win, then you make sure you don't lose."

Southgate had appealed to the club's fans not to vent their frustration on Downing, and they did him proud, cheering the 24-year-old warmly when his name was announced and applauding his early contributions.

He repaid them in style in the final minute of the first half when he accepted Afonso Alves' lay-off and then returned the favour with the perfect pass to allow the Brazilian to thump the opening goal past keeper Marton Fulop.

But the balance of power in a poor game changed markedly when the Teessiders lost both central midfielders, Didier Digard and 19-year-old Josh Walker, to injury within 20 minutes of the restart, and that handed the Black Cats their window of opportunity.

Having said that, Ricky Sbragia's men, who had previously looked woefully incapable of troubling Ross Turnbull in the Boro goal, did not threaten until the closing stages, and significantly, it was substitutes Andy Reid and David Healy who made the difference.

Republic of Ireland international Reid picked out his Northern Ireland counterpart's 82nd-minute run down the right, and Healy's cross was perfect for Kenwyne Jones to fire home from close range.

It might have been worse for Boro had Adam Johnson not acrobatically cleared Carlos Edwards' header off the line with three minutes remaining, and it took a perfectly-timed tackle from Tony McMahon to deny Djibril Cisse the chance to win the game at the death.

Southgate said: "It's been difficult to get everybody focused on football to be honest, and considering that, we gave a performance of quite a bit of character.

"It was not enough to win the game - in the end, Sunderland could have stolen it because we cleared one off the line and Tony McMahon made a brilliant tackle at the end."

The draw eased Boro into 16th place on Saturday evening, but they are just a single victory clear of bottom two West Brom and Blackburn and without a league win since November 9.

But on a positive note, Alves is finally starting to look like the striker for whom his club paid a record £12.7million 12 months ago.

His goal was his third in a week and sixth of the season, and Southgate will hope for much, much more from both the South American and Downing in the free role behind him after what has been a tough first year in English football for the frontman.

He said: "It has [been tough], but we have known what he is capable of doing.

"He can score goals in this division, there's no doubt about that, and we need him to keep doing it."