Middlesbrough 3 Cardiff 1: Boro end wait for win despite missing penalty

Second-half goals from Gaston Ramirez and David Nugent enabled Boro to claim their first win in six games after Matthew Connolly’s own goal had cancelled out a first-half opener from Cardiff full-back Fabio.

The game was the first match at the Riverside since the death of popular broadcaster Alastair Brownlee, and Boro fans marked the occasion with the unfurling of a large banner bearing his face. It was a poignant gesture for a man who universally came to be known as ‘the voice of the Boro’.

The home side threatened throughout the first half, and only failed to forge ahead before the interval because of some unexpected profligacy from January signing Jordan Rhodes.

The striker directed a weak downward header straight at David Marshall and then blazed over from inside the penalty area after Albert Adomah played the ball into his path.

Towards the end of the first half he prodde a half-volley over the bar from eight yards before heading Adomah’s cross straight at Marshall from an unmarked position in the six-yard box.

In between those flurries, both sides scored, with Cardiff’s goal sublime and Middlesbrough’s ridiculous.

Tomas Kalas cleared a corner to Fabio 30 yards out, but the former Manchester United full-back rifled home an unstoppable long-range strike.

Boro levelled five minutes later, Connolly’s attempted clearance from Ramirez’s header cannoning onto his own arm before rebounding into the net.

Ramirez claimed his first goal since Boxing Day 2014 to put Boro ahead and after Grant Leadbitter had a penalty saved. A flowing counter-attack ended in Nugent sweeping home a side-footed finish with seven minutes of normal time remaining.

Middlesbrough: Konstantopoulos, Nsue, Kalas, Fry, Friend, Forshaw, Leadbitter (De Sart 90), Adomah, Ramirez (Stuani 84), Downing, Rhodes (Nugent 75). Unused substitutes: De Laet, De Pena, Kike Sola, Agazzi.

Cardiff: Marshall, Fabio, Ecuele Manga, Connolly, Malone, Lawrence, O’Keefe (Gunnarsson 82), Ralls, Whittingham (Ameobi 73), Pilkington, Immers (Zohore 84). Unused substitutes: Dikgacoi, Moore, Saadi, Peltier.

Referee: Trevor Kettle (Rutland).