Middlesbrough 2 Huddersfield Town 1 - Ten-man Boro end long wait for home win

Heading into this fixture, Boro’s play-off bandwagon had blown off course by way of a meagre one victory in their previous seven outings – incorporating four consecutive home defeats.

The Terriers’ own seven-match winless league sequence has been even worse, complete with the stark realisation that they have potentially been thrown into a relegation fight for the second successive campaign.

Still, opportunity knocked for someone at the Riverside, although seasoned Huddersfield observers would have probably not read too much into Boro’s home ailments.

On their side’s previous nine winless visits to Teesside, Town had lost eight times, with their last victory coming by virtue of a 1-0 success on New Year’s Day, 1986 – courtesy of a goal from Joey Jones.

This was another barren visit to this corner of the north-east, but quite how Town, who battered the hosts – reduced to 10 men following Paddy McNair’s studs-up challenge on Juninho Bacuna – in the final quarter did not go home with at least a point for their efforts is anyone’s guess.

The dismissal was the cue to apoplexy from Neil Warnock and his coaching staff as he vented his spleen in the direction of the officials before the mass relief of the final whistle.

Town, who went desperately close through substitutes Aaron Rowe and Kieran Phillips, who smacked a late effort against the post, were left to curse their fortune again as Boro edged home.

Despite poor weekend results, both Warnock and Carlos Corberan were sparing in their changes, even if they did attract instant attention.

The former handed first home starts in almost five months to Grant Hall and Ashley Fletcher, while the latter brought in Alex Pritchard – not involved at the beginning of a game since December 12.

In fairness, Corberan’s options were considerably thinner on the ground than Warnock’s, while he resisted the urge to throw in a curve ball by promoting youth.

The inquest after Huddersfield’s dreadful second-half against Wycombe on Saturday would have been a lengthy one and while Corberan spoke of the need for a strong mentality, he was seeking deeds and not words from his players.

On the evidence of the first 25 minutes, they had clearly taken the avalanche of justified criticism to heart and were keen to do something about it.

So passive and nervy three days earlier on the resumption against Wycombe, Town were the exact opposite and displayed vigour, desire and energy and more importantly, they had a clear game plan on the counter-attack.

It yielded the opener they had been threatening with a brilliant curling free-kick a Isaac Mbenza beat Marcus Bettinelli all ends up.

In contrast, Boro – fielding a 5-3-2 formation – were clunky and too lateral. But they persisted, with some sweet set-piece deliveries from McNair beginning to test Ryan Schofield.

Aerially, Town were afforded a few half-scares with Hall heading straight at Schofield before their capacity for slackness at the back again came to the fore.

Naby Sarr and Lewis O’Brien were given the slip too easily by Duncan Watmore, but his finish was handsome and emphatic after he cut inside and drove home a deadly drive.

A header from Hall was then ruled out for offside before O’Brien’s evening sadly deteriorated further.

He stuck out a panicky leg to catch the onrushing Darnell Fisher in the box as Town conceded another needless penalty.

The frustration was compounded when Fletcher’s spot-kick squirmed under Schofield before creeping into the net.

There was still time for Town to almost level in the first half when Bettinelli got an important hand to kick out Bacuna’s free-kick and all bets were still off as far as the second half was concerned.

One understandable change saw O’Brien switch to midfield while Boro sought to maintain their control of a game which started worryingly.

The free-kick route alongside the trickery of Watmore looked Boro’s best options as Town sought to reimpose some threat on the break.

In comparison to the first half, the second period was scrappy.

Town’s offerings were spirited and they had their moments infront of goal, going close when Bacuna’s low drive was deflected just off target.

An even more dangerous episode arrived when a deflected cross from Rowe – on at the break for Pritchard – almost provided a moment to savour for Phillips, but Bettinelli was alert to his glancing header.

The cue to a dramatic finale was then lit when McNair saw red and somehow Boro survived.

Middlesbrough: Bettinelli; Fisher (Spence 79), Dijksteel, Hall, McNair, Bola; Morsy, Howson, Kebano (Saville 79); Fletcher (Akpom 86), Watmore (Johnson 86). Substitutes unused: Archer, Assombalonga, Mendez-Laing, Coulson.

Huddersfield Town: Schofield; Pipa, Keogh (Daly 85), Sarr, O’Brien; Hogg, Bacuna; Holmes (Phillips 56), Pritchard (Rowe 45), Mbenza (Vallejo 30); Campbell. Substitutes unused: Leutwiler, Stearman, Duhaney, Crichlow, High.

Referee: J Simpson (Lancashire).

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