Town recorded their first draw of the season as their visit to Tony Mowbray’s Middlesbrough ended scoreless. Jason Scotland went nearest to breaking the deadlock with a shot against the post in the second half, while Michael Chopra and Ibrahima Sonko both went close in the first period.

Boss Paul Jewell stuck with the same side and 4-4-2 diamond formation which beat Coventry at Portman Road on Monday, Ibrahima Sonko recovering sufficiently from his knee injury to line up at the heart of the defence. Lee Martin missed the trip due to tonsillitis, while Mark Kennedy remained sidelined with his calf problem.

Middlesbrough manager Tony Mowbray returned to the team which beat Crystal Palace 1-0 last Saturday, also lining up in a 4-4-2 formation, after fielding a much-changed XI in the Carling Cup defeat to the Eagles on Tuesday.

With former Blue Connor Wickham watching from the stands, the first significant action of the game in the second minute saw Boro left-back Joe Bennett booked for a foul on Carlos Edwards. The Trinidadian had been sent away down the Town right by superb Jimmy Bullard diagonal pass.

Aaron Cresswell played the freekick to Bullard on the edge of the area but the midfielder scuffed his strike into the crowd of players in the box.

Boro’s first shot on goal came on nine when Barry Robson hit a low freekick in from the right which David Stockdale, again watched by England keeper-coach Ray Clemence, gathered comfortably after Lee Bowyer had harshly been penalised for fouling Marvin Emnes.

Chances were few and far between in the first 15 minutes, a Robson shot blocked by Andrews on the edge of the Town area the nearest either came to threatening a goalkeeper. Both sides had been guilty of needlessly giving the ball away on numerous occasions.

The Blues should have gone ahead in the 20th minute when Sonko got a flick on a Bullard corner from the right. Keith Andrews deftly chipped back into the area towards the big Senegalese international, who headed wide when he should at least have hit the target.

On 16 Sonko picked up Town’s first booking of the game for a foul on the already cautioned Bennett right on the touchline.

Michael Chopra was within an inch or so of putting the Blues in front on 34 after a long spell of Town possession in the wake of a not fully cleared Bullard corner from the left. Eventually Edwards whipped in a cross from the right which Chopra diverted goalwards, only for Boro keeper Carl Ikeme to block at point blank range. Any distance either side of the keeper and Paul Jewell’s men would have been in front.

The Blues were looking the bigger attacking threat by now and were out-passing the home side, who were continuing to give the ball away all too easily. However, on 38, after a Justin Hoyte break down the right, Robson shot wide from 20 yards.

A minute later, after another long spell of impressive Town possession with Bullard inevitably at the heart of it, Bowyer saw a shot deflect over. From the resultant corner, the ball was cleared to Cresswell, who shot well over from 30 yards.

The Blues continued to have the better of it as half-time approached, a neat interchange of passes between Scotland and Leadbitter ending with the skipper scraping a shot wide from the edge of the box.

Boss Jewell will have been pleased with his side’s first half performance, the Blues having played the better football after an initial early spell in which both sides surrendered possession cheaply.

Town, and Bullard in particular, eventually found their feet and created the better openings, Sonko’s header and Chopra’s close range effort saved by Ikeme by far the best.

Mowbray’s Boro appeared somewhat under par and by the break were frustrating their supporters with an uncharacteristically large number of passes going astray.

Middlesbrough midfielder Faros Haroun, linked with a move to the Blues in the summer, headed the first half-chance of the second period over, then on 50 Scott McDonald shot straight at Stockdale from the edge of the box.

But it was the Blues who were continuing to look the better side and a minute later Jason Scotland wasn’t far from his third goal of the season. The Trinidadian brought the ball forward on the left to the 18-yard line from where he crashed a powerful strike against Ikeme’s right post with the keeper beaten.

There was a scare for Town on 55 when the Teessiders broke quickly after a Blues corner. Edwards sold Stockdale a touch short with his passback and the keeper was forced to clear hurriedly ahead of McDonald. Boro continued to press and the on-loan Fulham man was forced to palm a Bennett cross from the left away from the Australian striker, then Hoyte lashed the loose ball wastefully over.

Andrews failed to find the final pass with the Blues in a promising position in the 57th minute, then Boro threatened again, Collins doing well to just about legally fend off Robson as he broke into the Town area behind the visitors’ backline.

After Leadbitter was fouled by McDonald 25 yards out, Bullard, presumably having won the traditional game of rock, paper, scissors, hit a low freekick which went narrowly wide of Ikeme’s left post and struck the stanchion. For Boro, McDonald shot well wide after beating Sonko on the left of the box.

The former Celtic man went closer on 66 after Emnes had out-muscled Cresswell on the Town left. McDonald cut inside Sonko before hitting a shot which Stockdale did well to block.

Boro were looking a much improved prospect after the break, but the Blues were threatening on the break, Leadbitter wrongly choosing to shoot himself when he should have played the ball to Bowyer to his left and the ball deflected harmlessly through to Ikeme.

McDonald again cut inside the increasingly unfit looking Sonko on 68 before slamming a goalbound shot against Collins.

At the other end, Chopra played in Scotland and the Trinidadian seemed set to score until Hoyte's toe redirected his goalwards stab the wrong side of the post.

Boro fans appealed for a penalty in the 75th minute when a Nicky Bailey ball into the box struck Bowyer but referee Scott Mathieson indicated that he felt it hit the veteran midfielder’s midriff. A minute later, Cresswell slammed a freekick into the home side’s wall after Leadbitter had been fouled 25 yards out.

Cresswell made a strong run through into the Boro area on 79, just failing to control a Bowyer pass, then Hoyte made a similar break from full-back for the home side, but Sonko cut out his pass inside to McDonald.

As the game entered its final 10 minutes, McDonald had the home fans on one side of the ground on their feet with a header from a Hoyte cross but the ball had nestled in the wrong side of the netting.

Murphy replaced Scotland as the match moved towards its final five minutes, the Trinidadian having picked up a knock and making way after a spell of on-pitch treatment.

The Blues were largely on the backfoot during three minutes of injury time, Sonko making an important last ditch tackle on Emnes as the Boro striker broke into the area seconds before the final whistle.

Paul Jewell won’t have been too disappointed with the result, a draw - one of the more entertaining 0-0s - perhaps not an unfair scoreline with the home side having been on top in the second half, while Town had had the best of the first.

The better chances had fallen for the Blues with Scotland unfortunate with his strike against the post in the second period, although the Teessiders will feel they also had opportunities to take all three points.

Overall, a good week for Jewell and Town with a draw away at Middlesbrough a more than respectable result to follow the comfortable victory over Coventry on Monday.

Town: Stockdale, Edwards, Sonko, Collins, Cresswell, Bullard, Andrews, Leadbitter, Bowyer, Scotland (Murphy 85), Chopra. Unused: Lee-Barrett, Ainsley, Delaney, Emmanuel-Thomas.

Middlesbrough: Ikeme, Hoyte (Thomson 82), Bennett, Bates, McMahon, Williams, Bailey, Haroun, Robson (Tchuimeni-Nimely 82), McDonald, Emnes. Subs not used: Zemmana, McManus, Arca. Referee Scott Mathieson (Cheshire). Att: 17,741 (Town: 434).

Story syndicated from TWTD.co.uk

Photo: Action Images

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