Boro survive early scare to earn timely boost to promotion hopes

Boro survived some scares, including the post being rattled after 30 seconds, but finished smiling after Lukas Jutkiewicz slammed home the winner in the second half after a polished move.

That helped Boro grind out a precious win on a day when promotion rivals Crystal Palace, Hull and Leicester all dropped points.

And as Boro edged back into third place, boss Mowbray said: “There were some big, big fixtures in the Championship today so it was vitally important that we won the game.

“We were in this position last year but we drew too many games that cost us, but we have learned from that.

“Today was tough for us. Blackburn may have only won one game in 10 but they have a lot of quality players and they play good football.

“They made it difficult for us and created some good chances. So it may have been a close run thing but we deserved it.

“It was a fantastic effort by the team, they dug deep and got a very good goal then worked hard to hold on to it.”

Both sides spurned opportunities – Colin Kazim-Richards hitting the post for Blackburn – before Boro eventually scored after 67 minutes.

George Friend played a ball out of defence for Mario Ledesma to flick into the path of Scott McDonald, who carried it into the box then squared for Jutkiewicz to lash home a low 16-yard shot.

Middlesbrough: Steele, Friend, Woodgate, Bikey (R Williams 46), Hoyte, Ledesma, McEachran (Smallwood 56), Leadbitter, Emnes (Bailey 72), Jutkiewicz, McDonald. Unused substitutes: Leutwiler, Thomson, Halliday, Miller.

Blackburn: Kean, Henley, G Hanley, Dann, M Olsson, Rosado (Dunn 79), Murphy, Lowe, King, Rhodes, Kazim-Richards (Rochina 83). Unused substitutes: Usai, Givet, Pedersen, Etuhu, Vukcevic.

Referee: M Atkinson (W Yorkshire).