Blackpool 1 Middlesbrough 2: How determined Boro were rewarded with stoppage-time winner at Bloomfield Road

When substitute Shane Lavery equalised just as fourth official Anthony Backhouse raised his electronic board to indicate four added minutes, it was no less than Blackpool deserved.

The Seasiders hit the post twice in the second half and nearly fluked an opening goal before that but the Teessiders had come for the three points and were determined not to go home without them.

Two minutes later Boro went down the right, the avenue they did all their best work in, and their outstanding player on the night, Isaiah Jones laid the ball on a plate for Duncan Watmore to score the winner.

It prompted absolute bedlam in the 3,000-strong away stand and jubilant scenes from away players eager to share their very noisy elation.

This was not a normal 2-1 win, it was the sort of win promoted sides get.

It certainly will not go down as one of their best performances, but Boro are fortunate their Christmas schedule has become a slog and when it does, you just have to win however you can.

“It’s not how we wanted to be but we found a way to get a result,” shrugged Boro manager Chris Wilder.

“We were not at our best. It was a difficult game but I always knew this would be a really tough game for us.

“Blackpool were really aggressive, played forward, asked questions of us defensively and that’s what the Championship’s all about. There’s different hurdles to get over and we’d like to have got over it in an easier or a better way but the team showed a lot of different characteristics and qualities to get a big win.”

There was hardly a torrent of first-half chances but Boro contrived to miss three good ones.

When Jones combined with Paddy McNair, pulling out to the right from his central midfield position to contribute to a patient move and drilling in a cross, left wing-back Lee Peltier was unable to make the most of it.

Running onto the ball from the far post, he put it well beyond the far.

McNair, deputising for Jonny Howson, is such a good midfielder but also such a good centre-back.

If only there were two.

Blackpool had paid Boro the respect of matching their formation rather than going with their tried-and-trusted 4-4-2 but took time to get into the game.

James Husband won a corner when Boro stubbornly refused to get the ball away cleanly but it came to nothing. When Doncaster-born Jerry Yates headed across goal, it was cleared.

The visitors had a second wind but again failed to cash in.

McNair’s pass to Sporar was looping but the striker took it down well and again picked out his team’s dangerman, Jones. When the wing-back returned it, Sporar’s shot was blocked and Marcus Tavernier was unable to pounce on the rebound.

A defensive clearance ricocheted into Onel Hernandez’s path but one-on-one with Dan Grimshaw, the goalkeeper came out on top.

Blackpool came out for the second half looking they were going to take advantage. Callum Connolly’s shot hit Dael Fry and very nearly went inside the near post, then Madine hit a shot against the back post from a tight angle with Joe Lumley beaten.

Boro, though, refused to settle for that.

When Jones got to the byline and drilled the ball in low a minute later, Sporar flicked it brilliantly into the net. The away stand literally rocked.

They might have added to it when substitute Watmore got to the byline and somehow pulled the ball back through Grimshaw. If only Matty Crooks had believed his team-mate was going to do that, he might not have been beaten to it by Richard Keogh.

When Connolly got a glancing touch on an 81st-minute corner and put it onto the upright the story seemed written.

It seemed like Lavery’s equaliser from a simple ball forward poorly defended had rewritten it but when teams are in the form and confidence Boro are in, there is always time for just a little bit more.

Blackpool: Grimshaw; Ekpiteta, Gretarsson (Bowler 73), Keogh (Mitchell 89); Sterling, Dougall, Anderson, Connolly, Husband; Yates (Lavery 73), Madine. Unused substitutes: Moore, Casey, Hamilton, Mariette.

Middlesbrough: Lumley; Fry, Bamba, Peltier; Jones, Tavernier, Crooks, McNair , Dijksteel; Sporar (Ikpeazu 73), Hernandez (Watmore 61). Unused substitutes: Taylor, Hall, Payero, Lea Siliki, Daniels.

Referee: S Martin (Staffordshire).