Peterborough 2 Middlesbrough 3: Hungry Miller earns Mowbray’s praise after dramatic late impact

Ishmael Miller sealed victory for promotion-chasing Boro in the Championship encounter at London Road by slamming in a 76th-minute winner, just three minutes after his introduction.

Boro had earlier seen Faris Haroun’s early brace wiped out as Peterborough’s on-loan striker Dwight Gayle struck twice.

Mowbray admitted he was fearing the worst after seeing his side throw away a two-goal lead, but Miller’s low 20-yard strike, which caught out goalkeeper Bobby Olejnik, secured victory.

Mowbray said: “We came here to win, we would have been disappointed to draw and yet we could even have lost.

“It was all about the three points and we got them in the end.

“We set up to play on the counter-attack and after 25 minutes it looked like the right tactic, but we didn’t go on to dominate the game in the way we should. A fantastic goal brought Peterborough back into it and a sloppy one got them level, but I’m thankful our changes worked well.

“Ishmael was a real thorn in Peterborough’s side. He was unlucky not to play from the start but showed his hunger to help the team by coming on and doing the business.

“The fact that Peterborough are bottom shows just how strong the Championship is as a league.”

Boro hit the front when Haroun was left unattended to provide the finishing touch to a ninth-minute breakaway launched by a glorious pass from Emmanuel Ledesma.

Eleven minutes later the Belgian was celebrating again after slipping through the Posh defensive net once more to convert Stuart Parnaby’s cross at the back post.

But any thoughts of a cakewalk for the promotion-chasers were soon dismissed as Gayle – borrowed by Posh from Dagenham & Redbridge until January – halved the hosts’ arrears eight minutes before the break with a long-range blast.

Seven minutes into the second period Gayle struck again, pouncing from close range after Michael Bostwick’s header from Lee Tomlin’s corner had fallen perfectly for him.

Posh, however, ended up being beaten for the ninth time in 11 home games due to Miller.

Peterborough United: Olejnik, Little, Zakuani, Bostwick, Newell, Rowe (Ferdinand 78), Knight-Percival (Swanson 90), Thorne, Boyd, Tomlin, Gayle. Unused substitutes: Day, Alcock, Brisley, McCann, Kearns.

Middlesbrough: Steele, Halliday, Parnaby, Woodgate, Bikey, Leadbitter, Haroun (Smallwood 69), McEachran (Thomson 78), Ledesma, Emnes (Miller 73), McDonald. Unused substitutes: Leutwiler, Bailey, Hines, Jutkiewicz.

Referee: C Berry (Surrey).

Man of the match: Faris Haroun.