If its got the Land Rover MLS Gasket then the "shim" has a tab that sticks out... having not got a 1.8 with an MLS at the moment (although I'm not sure about the F... will have to have a look later!) I can't show you a picture...
Unless...
http://www.samdenton.co.uk/blog/?p=370 my blog has a "half finished" how-to for the head gasket we did on a VVC enigned Rover 200 Vi... Still playing with the redesign so some words are white and don't show up! lol - dunno if it helps at all... (really should finish it...)