Christian Stuani and - inevitably - David Nugent were on target in the second half as Middlesbrough climbed to the top of the Championship via a 2-0 victory over Town at Portman Road. After the Blues had had the better of the first half, Stuani headed the opener on 54, then 20 minutes later Town’s nemesis Nugent scored his 15th goal in 14 games against Town and his 10th in eight at Portman Road.

Town named an unchanged XI but with David McGoldrick returning to the bench after recovering from his groin injury.

Winger Tommy Oar missed out on a place amongst the subs having picked up a knock in training, while Adam McDonnell replaced Joe Robinson in the 18. Former Blues skipper Grant Leadbitter started and skippered the Teessiders.

The game got under way but was very quickly halted when Ainsley Maitland-Niles required treatment for a head injury after George Friend arrived late as they went for the same aerial ball.

Town, playing a 4-4-2 formation with Freddie Sears on the left, threatened for the first time in the fifth minute when Maitland-Niles cut the ball across from the right to the former Colchester man, whose shot from a tight angle at the near post was blocked by Adam Clayton.

There was a big scare for the Blues following the resultant corner when Cole Skuse inadvertently found Stewart Downing with a pass back towards Chambers on halfway. Fortunately for Town the Blues skipper held his ground and blocked the former England international’s shot.

Brett Pitman hit a low strike which Boro keeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulos claimed without trouble in the ninth minute, then at the other end Dean Gerken was similarly unruffled by Blues nemesis David Nugent’s first effort of the game.

On 14 the Teessiders broke quickly down the left, Albert Adomah crossed and Christian Stuani volleyed into the ground and into Gerken’s arms from a tight angle on the right.

The Blues first seriously tested Konstantopoulos in the 23rd minute when Pitman sent Daryl Murphy away on the right. The Irish international chased the ball to the byline then played it back to the ex-Bournemouth man, who hit a powerful shot from the edge of the area which the Boro keeper palmed away.

Town went close again on 28 when Pitman crossed from the left to the far post to Chambers, but Konstantopoulos reacted quickly to block his half-volley and then paw the ball behind as the Blues captain looked to get to the rebound.

Boro defender Ben Gibson picked up the game’s first yellow card for pulling back Pitman midway inside the visitors’ half five minutes before the break. The Blues striker took the freekick himself but shot well over.

Neither side created another chance before referee Tim Robinson brought the half to an end.

Town were warmly applauded off having had the better of their second-placed opponents and the best of the game’s few chances.

Boro keeper Konstantopoulos had done well to stop Pitman’s strike and Chambers’s header, while at the other end the Town defence had prevented Nugent from being able to add to his goals against the Blues and at Portman Road, although the visitors had looked a threat on the break.

Konstantopoulos was forced into another save less than two minutes after the restart. Maitland-Niles seized on sloppy Boro passing on the Blues right and sent over a deep cross towards Pitman.

Daniel Ayala just got the faintest of touches as the ball came across taking it slightly away from the Town striker, who still managed to head back across the keeper, who got down and across to his left to save.

Blues keeper Gerken made an even more impressive stop a minute later. A cross from the right was headed back across goal by Adomah and Berra’s weak header only reached Leadbitter, who hit a powerful strike from eight yards which Gerken somehow managed to divert over the bar. Soon after, Leadbitter was booked for a foul.

Gerken had stopped what looked to be a certain goal, but in the 54th minute the visitors went in front.

Maitland-Niles misjudged a header sending Adomah away on the right. The former Bristol City man cut inside Smith - with Chambers allowing him too much space as he retreated - and sent over a cross towards the far post where Stuani got in ahead of Jonas Knudsen to nod home.

Berra was shown Town’s first yellow card of the evening for a foul on Nugent on 58 and three minutes later, the former Leicester man teed up Downing just outside the box, the midfielder hitting a well-struck shot which Gerken saved down to his left.

Maitland-Niles was replaced by Giles Coke in the 63rd minute, the ex-Sheffield Wednesday man joining Skuse and Jonathan Douglas in a midfield three with Sears now up front with Pitman and Murphy.

Downing hit a deflected shot not too far wide in the 68th minute, then a minute later Stuani diverted Friend’s cross wide at the near post with the Teessiders having been on top since their goal.

And in the 74th minute the inevitable happened, Nugent added to his remarkable goalscoring records against Town and at Portman Road.

Downing broke away down the right and found Nugent with a superb ball which put the striker through one on one against Smith on the edge of the Blues’ area, from where he hit a shot which deflected off the Town defender, struck the post and found the net.

Town went close to pulling a goal back in the 80th minute but once again Konstantopoulos stood in their way. A cross from the right reached Knudsen at the far post and the Greek keeper blocked the Dane’s close-range header.

Boro, who were very much in charge as the game moved into its final five minutes, went close to making it 3-0 when Nugent bundled Gerken’s save from Downing’s shot wide of the post from close range.

McGoldrick replaced Pitman on 86 but soon after the visitors went close again when Gerken deflected sub Adam Forshaw’s cross-shot from a tight angle across the six-yard area. Adomah was eventually first to the loose ball but Chambers blocked his stab towards goal.

A Blues comeback never looked on the cards in the closing stages and referee Robinson’s whistle confirmed Town’s fifth defeat of the season.

After the Blues had had the better of the first half and a decent chance in the opening minutes of the second, impressive Boro upped their game and once they had got in front their victory was never in any real doubt.

Nugent’s latest addition to his extraordinary record, which now stretches back more than a decade to his time with Preston, sealed the Teessiders’ first three points at Portman Road since March 1993.

Town, who have won only one of their last eight at home, have dropped a place to eighth behind Sheffield Wednesday on goal difference.

Town: Gerken, Chambers (c), Smith, Berra, Knudsen, Skuse, Maitland-Niles (Coke 63), Douglas, Sears, Murphy, Pitman (McGoldrick 86). Unused: Bialkowski, Malarczyk, Parr, Tabb, McDonnell.

MIddlesbrough: Konstantopoulos, Nsue, Ayala, Gibson, Friend, Leadbitter (c), Clayton, Stuani (Forshaw 85), Downing, Adomah, Nugent. Unused: Mejias, Amorebieta, Kike, Kalas, Fabbrini, Zuculini. Referee: Tim Robinson (West Sussex). Att: 17,662 (Boro: 491).

Photo: Action Images

Langdon_Blue added 08:51 - Dec 5 The difference was our best two chances to score fell to our full backs. I'd have expected any of our strikers to have finished those close range efforts that Chambers and Knudsen spurned. We score at those points in the game and it's a totally different outcome. Small margins.
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ChurchmanBlue added 08:55 - Dec 5 Great performance for the first 60 minutes. We had 3 really good opportunities to take the lead, but their 'keeper made 2 fantastic saves. We were playing good passing, attacking football, for long spells in the Boro half. They scored, and once we had to chase the game we did not have the personnel in midfield or on the bench to do this. It was noticeable that Leadbitter & Clayton were more prominent in the second half, once they had scored. A couple of points: AMN was absolutely knackered when he went off, which might explain why he was subbed (he is only 17). MM had already said that DMcG only had about 10 minutes in him. Possibly one of the best games of football I have seen at PR in the since MM arrived, unfortunately the result was not in our favour. As usual, there seems to be a lot of people with unrealistic expectations of what we can achieve. There's no point blaming anyone for this. ME is an astute businessman & therefore will not throw money at something without a good chance of getting a quick return. Just remember, it is his club after all, and he is a far better owner than a lot at other clubs.

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itsonlyme added 08:57 - Dec 5 How much longer have we got to put up with square pegs in round holes? Our manager appears to be the only one who thinks our defence is up to the job. Against the better sides we fall woefully short! Chambers keeps being caught out, Tommy needs to thump the ball out of play instead of trying to be clever! Berra seems to have lost his mojo and Knudsen can piss off back to Denmark. Time for a management change now!

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joepublic added 09:20 - Dec 5 Competitive first half and their keeper was excellent. Adomah was all over Chambers as most wingers are, especially when AMN flagged. Smith plays across himself and looks tangled but generally good in the air. Central midfield offer NOTHING creative and adding Coke just ended all links to the strikers. Our bench looked really weak however the return of Bishop, Bru and Fraser will help if they can dislodge the favourites. Tactical changes did not work and we looked worse as game went on. Likely finish IMO between 9th to 6th

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prebsa added 09:22 - Dec 5 What a boring game of football! The real test has show itself. To essex57 and gang who mark everyone down who think the sun shines out off MM ass welcome to the real world. We beat 3 very poor sides! Nothing to shout about like you all did, today proved the bang average middle table team that we really are. Gerken makes good reaction saves and that is it, if he catches the ball from the cross its not a goal, it was in his 6 yard box he has to catch everything in there! And his kicking was as poor as always. Chambers was as cr*p as always getting totally out skilled and out run down the right thanks to his poor positioning and terrible pace Kundesns long throw has not worked once all season and he dosent know what a short throw is, his defending is also average. Smith is just out of position and so slow that anyone could run at him and get a shot away no problem. Our best back 5 not sure what MM watches or any of the other blind followers but it certainly isent that. Skuse cant pass the ball 5 yards he can only tackle some and douglus is just so slow and old. You then take AMN off and brink on coke the joke, cos that was going to win us the game wasent it. Sears on the wing is such a waste he must just want to ask what he has done wrong to be out there. No idea what people like Bart and Parr have done wrong if they cant get a place in our team but im sure at the end of the season they will be looking to move on if they cant get a place in the MM favourites club. The real test has shown itself and we have fallen way short of the mark!

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clint_eastwood added 09:34 - Dec 5 @blues1, ....you must've been watching a different game. Seriously, watch and observe carefully our bloody no. 3, mate.
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Keaneish added 09:34 - Dec 5 Blues1 - are you on a wind up? "Skuse never made a bad pass all night"??? Many fans like yourself it would seem to have had the blinkers on for far too long with Skuse, primarily for 2 or 3 reasons. 1 is that he looks comfortable on the ball. 2 is that he had a good start to his career. 3 is that Mick bigs him up consistantly. What about Skuse's 30 yard backward pass straight to either Nugent or Stuani (forget who it was) in the first half? What about the 3 or 4 balls into the channels when there were clearly no runs on. What about the balls into the front men that carried on through. What about with 1 minute to go and instead of putting it in the box he plays a 40 yard back to Smith? What about his inability to deal with the header that led to the second goal. What about allowing (Downing i think it was) to get by him and play the ball across the face of our goal line? There's a mixture of things he did wrong from passing, poor positioning, poor decision making and being weak in a tackle. There are other poor pass examples to throw in that mix too. Ever since the Cardiff game when i watched him from the Britannia i've been asking Town fans to watch him off the ball as well as on it. He's never tight enough. Doesn't demand the ball. Doesn't take players away with clever tuns. Blah Blah. Leadbitter and Clayton bossed it last night because they did the simple things. Skuse did not.

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jonbull88 added 09:35 - Dec 5 This forum disappoints me more than the second half last night, same old moan and groan about lack of ambition, not being good enough, etc when we lose with 70+ comments, yet when we win everyone disappears off in to the wood work wishing we had lost to give themselves another chance to knock mm, Evans or the club. The first half was fairly even and you could tell the first team to score would win, but whilst you lot moan about town not being good enough, boro have a team worth in excess of £20m, we could spend that money but when we get a transfer ban and have to make do with loans again everyone will moan. You've got to look at the bigger picture not just here and now, but 2-3 years down the line, the dark lord f**ked things up before, put us back 10 years, overspend and it MIGHT happen again. Only 3 teams can go up, for me of boro don't it will be interesting how they talk themselves out of £10m+ spent in the summer. Same goes for Derby and we all know they are good at imploding. The second half showed that we are a bit off the pace but top 10 is definitely on, maybe even top 6. But with the responses people put on here we might as well be 15 points adrift at the bottom on our 9th manager this season.

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BanksterDebtSlave added 10:06 - Dec 5 In my opinion we are neither as good nor as bad as most of the regular commenters on here believe. We are two full backs (one of whom could well be Parr!) and a fit midfield away from being a solid outfit! Frustrating that this has not been resolved but the owner needs to decide whether to act now as I am worried that the better elements of our squad will be cherry picked in the Summer if they can't see their careers advancing here.

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Geoff added 10:18 - Dec 5 Jonbull88 this sounds like the current team we have to many players not good enough for this league some would struggle in the division below. But if you are happy to stay in this league for another twenty years then so be it. Most would like to see some of the 8 million spent on our weak areas where week in week out we are exploited we need to show ambition do not take any notice of fair play no one else does it is just another excuse for Scrooge Evans to not give any money,hence we struggle against sides that have ambition.

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blues1 added 10:23 - Dec 5 Keanish. Yer. I admit I forgot the pass in the 1st half. Was poor. As for the 2nd goal being his fault. Rubbish. Can he really be blamed for forwards not making runs. Of course some of those passes through won't be got too. Boro did the same on a few occasions also. It happens at all levels of the game. You then misn he didn't hoof the ball into the box but decided to pass the ball to a teammate. Because that was the better option. Don't recall be1 moaning about that at the time. Either u want us to play football or u want us to hoof it? Yes there is obviously a place and time u need to but u can't just hoof it from ne position on the pitch. It's sometimes necessary to play the ball to some1 in a better position to do so.

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TimmyH added 11:09 - Dec 5 Good God! @jonbull88 - your one very easily pleased person if you think 'top 10 is easily on'. You need a bit more ambition than this - just look at some of the teams that have gone up in recent years - Burnley, Palace, Watford, Blackpool, Bournemouth and the likes of Leicester (look where they are now) and QPR - 2 teams that broke the FFP rules and to this day we still don't know if they have been fined. I'm not asking for us to break the kitty BUT we do need some quality in certain areas (and as we are £5M in profit over the last season) I'm sure than can be achieved to a degree, just a little more input from our owner would help this January. By the way we don't have a transfer ban.

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bingboast added 11:12 - Dec 5 While Micks constant faith in a stable team is commenable to a point, when regular failings by the defence continues to lose us points, why not try Parr, Malarczyk instead of them sitting on the bench. Two weeks ago Mick was telling us that Malarczyk was now climatised to the English Championship level, if so give him a chance.
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blues1 added 11:33 - Dec 5 Timny h. Yes we have a £5m profit from last season butcwe made an operating loss of over £6m. Which means that unless we sell another player for big money this season we' ll be back in a loss making position this season. And there lies the problem. Do we risk the ffp in hope nothing happens or carry on adhering to it and improve slowly in time, as we are doing. Sure we'd all love us to go and spend millions on players vutvifcit wasvto jeopardise the clubs future is it really worth that risk? Trust me, there's plenty of footy fans around the country who'd love their club to be in our position in the football league. But yes, its frustrating for all us itfc fans . I for one am quite realistic to where we are right now but get accused of having rose tinted specs as I don't slag the club off. Fact is, we'reva decent team capable of challenging for a play off spot, but are among several others who are also. I just don't get why fans are slagging the team off after 1 defeat in 8 games. And against a very good team. One thing I will criticisecis that our home record this season is poor, having won more away than at home. And that is a prob as it was our home form last season that got us in the top six.

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blues1 added 11:39 - Dec 5 Bingboast. I agree that the defence needs changing, and have been saying so for most of the season. And its not because of any particular players form that i feel it needs changing. The fact is, IMO, u need to have a right foot/left foot combination in the centre of the defence. Which personnel fill the particular positions is open for debate but I believe that while we have 2 left footers in there, we will continue to concede goals on a regular basis

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rolly added 11:49 - Dec 5 We did look OK until they scored.... Front 3 especially. The Coke substitution was very strange however AMS was tiring and there was a lack of quality on the bench. The back four were awful. However I feel a bit sorry for Berra and Smith; we could have the best centre halves in the world and they would struggle playing with fullbacks who can't defend and have no quality on the ball and a keeper who doesn't leave his line, let alone his 6 yard box! That said I don't think now is time to change it with the fixtures we have coming up - but teaching them how to stop/collect a cross might be an idea!!!

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Keaneish added 12:18 - Dec 5 The second goal wasn't Skuse's fault? Rewatch it. Knudsen's predictable long throw is predictably cleared and Skuse doesn't deal with the second ball allowing Downing to slide in Nugent. Surely the last minute is exactly the time to launch the ball into the box? The problem with Skuse, especially last night is that he seems to have this moment of hesitation that puts him under pressure. You seem to be forgetting that the reason the ball is going long is because the midfield aren't getting on the ball and linking up the play. First half was decent last night. Second half atrocious. The fact is this. We're a top 6 - 10 side. I'm sure if we looked at the mean average of all our results over the last three years we'd net out here. So, in order to get to the next level you have to look at either players or the manager. It's ridiculous to change manager so we need to look at the players. Skuse has been a constant over the last three years and on his day he's relatively decent but he shouldn't warrant automatic selection because in my view, it's apathy like this which is condemning us to another season of normalcy. Time to change that midfield up by dropping Skuse.

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DerryfromBury added 12:30 - Dec 5 So we got beaten by a 'top team' so that's okay. I thought us fans want ITFC to be a 'top team' and rightly so, after all we are charged to watch a top team. Whilst for some of the more fortunate amongst us c£30+ is acceptable to Payton watch for a game of 'football' for a lot of folk its something they save up for and choose their games carefully. For those people who went to last nights game I feel your pain. For the sake of the supporters MM & TC please look at the game through the eyes of the supporters. We can all see playing people out of their natural positiion is not working. Who was it who said doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is insanity.

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jonbull88 added 12:33 - Dec 5 Palace, Watford, Bournemouth, Leicester, all spent a lot money and only palace and Leicester pulling up trees. Bournemouth and Norwich spent loads and look in danger. Burnley lie just above us and Blackpool look in a l
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Dissboyitfc added 12:40 - Dec 5 TimmyH... Well said! To finish 10th is going backwards, we should be looking at leicester as a yardstick, something to aspire too! As long as their are those who settle for mediocracy, the club will stay there. We should all aspire for higher, shouldnt we?
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jonbull88 added 12:42 - Dec 5 Palace, Watford, Bournemouth, Leicester, all spent a lot money and only palace and Leicester pulling up trees. Bournemouth and Norwich spent loads and look in danger. Burnley lie just above us and Blackpool look in a lot of trouble! Seriously how would you feel if we spent £10-20-30m to stay in the championship? Or worse get in to financial difficulties and drop to league one? So yes to be in the top 10 of the championship,in the top 30 in the country while spending next to nothing is an achievement in my book.

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thebeat added 12:48 - Dec 5 "My best back 5" . Ba ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha a ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
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TimmyH added 14:34 - Dec 5 Whose saying £10-30M? - I'm not! you obviously didn't read my post, forget about operating losses (a lot of clubs make losses) but you have to take some degree of a gamble financially (the majority of the clubs mentioned above did) but at present we're not doing it at all and balancing the books rather than whats happening on the pitch. ME gambled on Keane and Jewell financially whom were both atrocious managers and now we have one with a track record he's given sweet FA. Mick has a record of 6th (if you take in his part season in 2012/13) 8th and 6th but with seemingly more clubs in the mix at present for that 6th spot that's all we seemingly can play for as early as December. The only straw I can clutch at present is hopefully we'll have less injuries in the months ahead with Bishop, Frazer, Bru and Hyam to bolster up the midfield - it's just other areas which need addressing and particularly to the 'best back 5' (but that's where Mick's stubborness comes in).

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bluemay77 added 15:04 - Dec 5 Prebs007 go and support some other team then
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blueboy1981 added 16:10 - Dec 5 Let's not beat about the bush, and trawl every excuse imaginable - quite simply, we failed the 'acid test'. Apart from a first half flurry when we looked like being at least capable of something - we failed miserably. No one could justify thinking that we were anything other than second best in all departments. Knudsen is at least a season from being Championship standard, and at fault for the first goal - for the second goal the only player in the rightful position was Tommy Smith - three players left chasing shadows. Boro' in the second half didn't have to do anything other than coast - and could have easily stepped up a couple of notches. Disappointed ? ... Yes. Surprised ? ... No. ............ as previously predicted. Mid table team.

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