Despite Daryl Murphy’s debut goal in the opening seconds via a David Healy assist, Town recorded their 15th league draw of the season against Boro at Portman Road. In a battling encounter of few clear-cut chances, David Wheater nodded an equaliser for the visitors just after the hour mark.
Boss Roy Keane made four changes to the side which lost 2-0 at Preston last week, new boys David Healy and Daryl Murphy came in up front with Tamás Priskin, now on loan at QPR, and Jon Stead dropping out. Jon Walters surprisingly returned after his hamstring injury on the right of midfield for Jaime Peters, while David Wright came in at left-back for Pim Balkestein.
Stead, Peters and Balkestein were joined on the bench by keeper Brian Murphy, like Walters also surprisingly declared fit after appearing to have been all but ruled out earlier in the week.
Healy and Murphy started their loan spells better than they can ever have dreamed. Jon Walters played the ball to Healy wide on the right and the Northern Irishman sent in a low cross which his strike partner diverted past Danny Coyne in the Middlesbrough goal. It was Murphy’s first goal of the season and his first since February 2008.
The majority of the game was being played in the Boro half of the field, but neither side was creating much in the way of chances, although on 10 Jon Walters stung Coyne’s hands with a 25-yard strike.
Penalty area action remained rare but in the 23rd minute Coyne rushed out for a ball to which Jack Colback beat him. The midfielder took the ball wide as the keeper sought to get back into position, eventually finding Liam Rosenior, who played the ball to Healy, whose shot was blocked.
On 28 Murphy, who of the two new loanees was making the greater impression, did well to take the ball down and shoot to Coyne. At the other end, Lee Miller managed Boro’s first shot, a weak effort through to Arran Lee-Barrett.
The visitors had another opportunity on the half hour mark, Willo Flood crossing from the right and Chris Killen sending an overhead kick straight to Lee-Barrett.
Two minutes before the break, Gareth McAuley’s header from Grant Leadbitter’s corner was deflected over.
Despite the good start, Town had rarely put Boro under pressure, although they had enjoyed the better of the possession and much of the game had been played in the visitors’ half. Neither goalkeeper had been particularly involved in a game of few chances.
Unusually for Town in recent weeks, they started the second half very slowly, surrendering the impetus to the Teessiders.
Early on in the half, Miller’s cross-shot landed on the roof of Lee-Barrett’s net, although with the keeper seeming untroubled.
Town’s first chance of the second half fell to Murphy, whose overhead kick was deflected across the six-yard box and wide. From the corner, Liam Rosenior’s shot bounced through a crowd of players to Coyne.
McAuley headed Leadbitter’s freekick wide in the 55th minute when he should have hit the target.
On 61 Chris Killen hooked a Delaney header out goalwards, Lee-Barrett superbly pawing the ball round the post. From the corner, Boro got back on terms, Wheater heading home having beaten McAuley to the ball.
The Blues had paid for their slow start to the second half and sitting back too deeply. Immediately, David Healy was replaced with Pablo Couñago, the Northern Irishman having had his moments but looking a fair bit off the pace after a long spell without first team football.
Boro had a good chance to go in front in the 62nd minute when Boro right-back Justin Hoyte escaped the attentions of David Wright and struck a shot which Lee-Barrett saved well. Gary O’Neil went in needlessly late on the Town keeper and received a yellow card from referee Keith Hill.
On 64 Damien Delaney cleared a Killen effort off the line from a cross from the right, then at the other end summer Town target Stephen McManus deflected Couñago’s flick from Walters’s cross out for a corner with the Sir Bobby Robson Stand calling for handball.
David Norris was booked for a foul on Gary O’Neil, prior to McAuley heading another Leadbitter corner over. There were calls for a Town spotkick soon afterwards when Leadbitter’s shot was blocked inside the area.
In the 78th minute Owen Garvan replaced David Wright, who was offering the Blues little going forward, Jack Colback moving to left-back.
Three minutes later, Garvan looped a shot well over the bar from the edge of the area when he probably should have done better.
Leroy Lita may have got a touch to Jonathan Franks’s cross in the 82nd minute, Lee-Barrett claiming the ball at the second attempt.
Two minutes later, Walters failed to read Leadbitter’s pass after the midfielder had beaten a number of players and taken the ball to the edge of the area. Seconds later, Jon Stead took over from the tiring Daryl Murphy.
With three minutes remaining, Franks hit a 30-yard shot which moved in the air before being claimed by Lee-Barrett.
Town’s final chance of the game came in the 88th minute, Garvan crossing from the right after a corner and Stead stabbing the ball wide at the near post under pressure.
In the end a draw was probably the right result. The Blues were the better side in the first half without turning their greater share of the possession into chances after scoring the early goal.
Both sides battled in midfield without showing too much of quality going forward throughout, with the visitors taking the impetus after the break and deserving their goal when it came.
Town had defended too deeply, but after the Boro goal they came more into the game again and looked the more likely to score towards the end, although without truly troubling Danny Coyne in the Teessiders’ goal.
Of the new signings, Murphy, who took his one real chance, impressed more than Healy, the Republic of Ireland international providing an aerial presence the Blues have lacked and also showing some clever touches on the ground.
Healy looked more like a player short on games, despite creating the goal. The Northern Irish international often pulled wide to the right and on the couple of occasions he escaped behind the defence, was halted by a linesman’s flag.
While the Blues really need to be winning games in order to push themselves out of the danger zone, a point against a side which was in the Premier League a year ago and which beat them comfortably earlier in the season can’t be seen as too bad a result.
However, with four away games on the trot in the weeks to come, the Blues’ league position could potentially look even worse when they are next at Portman Road when they face Bristol City on February 27th.
Town: Lee-Barrett, Rosenior, D Wright (Garvan 78), Delaney, McAuley, Leadbitter, Norris, Walters, Colback, Healy (Couñago 61), D Murphy (Stead 84). Unused: B Murphy, Balkestein, Peters, Edwards. Att: 21,243.