Nervous finale leaves Mowbray eager to finish games earlier

They went ahead in the first half with a strike from teenager Luke Williams and sealed victory in stoppage-time as Mustapha Carayol streaked clear to stroke home.

But the home side had to dig deep and withstand a second-half siege as Ipswich piled on the pressure.

“We have to learn how to win games comfortably,” said Mowbray.

“The second goal gives you a breathing space in games. We never had that often last season at home and we let a few games slip away.

“We weren’t great today and we perhaps made it harder than we had to for ourselves. But we have to look at the positives. That is a game that last year we might have drawn. But we stood up to it. The defence were magnificent, very physical and very strong and when you are under pressure you need that.

“We got a clean sheet and that is important.”

“I don’t think the scoreline tells the story of the game,” said Ipswich boss Paul Jewell.

Middlesbrough almost grabbed the opener after nine minutes as Josh McEachran slotted a neat ball behind the defence for Ishmael Miller but he shot against the legs of advancing goalkeeper Scott Loach.

Ipswich went close after 13 minutes as a superb ball from Andy Drury sent Paul Taylor down the right to cut inside and turn inside George Friend before lashing a 10-yard drive over.

Ipswich threatened again after 28 minutes as Taylor stabbed the ball from an angle and Jason Steele did well to push it over, then from the resulting corner Tommy Smith headed straight at the goalkeeper.

But Middlesbrough grabbed the lead out of the blue after 34 minutes as Kevin Thomson pushed a first-time diagonal ball into the feet of Williams who drilled a low shot inside the foot of the far post.

After the break both sides traded good chances, as Lukas Jutkiewicz put a looping header just over with his first touch then fired into the side-netting, while for Ipswich Chopra had an overhead kick deflected over.

Middlesbrough sealed it in stoppage time, substitute Carayol latching on to a long ball forward by Steele to steer home under the advancing Loach.

Middlesbrough: Steele, Hoyte, Amougou, Woodgate, Friend, Thomson (Zemmama 85), Leadbitter, Reach, McEachran, Miller (Jutkiewicz 57), Luke Williams (Carayol 70). Unused substitutes: Leutwiler, Arca, Hines, Ledesma.

Ipswich: Loach, Edwards, Chambers,Smith,Cresswell,Taylor, Drury (Luongo 72),Murphy (Scotland 79),Martin,N’Daw, Chopra (Emmanuel-Thomas 85). Unused substitutes: Lee-Barrett, Hyam, Murray, Ainsley.

Referee: P Gibbs (West Midlands).