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Blackburn logo
Championship | Gameweek 10
Nov 3, 2020 at 7.45pm UK
Ewood Park
Middlesbrough logo

Blackburn
0 - 0
Middlesbrough


Trybull (18'), Rankin-Costello (50'), Lenihan (78'), Wharton (85'), Holtby (90+1')
FT

McNair (67')

Middlesbrough miss chance to move second with Blackburn draw

Middlesbrough miss chance to move second with Blackburn draw
© Reuters
The visitors edged the chances in an uneventful game that never looked like bursting into life.

Middlesbrough made it nine unbeaten but could only manage a 0-0 draw at Blackburn in the Sky Bet Championship.

The visitors edged the chances in an uneventful game that never looked like bursting into life.

Neil Warnock's side looked as solid as conceding once from open play this season would suggest, and posed a threat with deliveries into the box all evening.

Britt Assombalonga passed up a very presentable opportunity in the first half, while Aynsley Pears acrobatically denied his old club in the second half.

Boro remain two points off second place and have now conceded just once in five games.

Blackburn, deprived of their top scorer Adam Armstrong, created precious little, though Joe Rankin-Costello's second-half cross deserved to be converted.

The hosts were light on numbers through a combination of injuries – Derrick Williams being the latest casualty – and Covid-related isolation, so it is perhaps no surprise they have now won only one in seven.

A hamstring strain kept Armstrong out of the game, and Sam Gallagher replaced him.

Dael Fry was fit to line up for Boro, who were without the injured Sam Morsy.

The visitors' form over the six previous game is unmatched and it took less than two minutes to fashion an opening, after a corner caused havoc in the Blackburn area. The ball dropped to Jonny Howson, who fired straight at Pears.

Rovers settled into possession but it was Middlesbrough's set-piece delivery causing the early problems, as a series of testing corners culminated in Assombalonga planting over a close-range free header.

As the half wore on, the hosts had to rely on last-ditch challenges from Rankin-Costello and Ryan Nyambe respectively to repel the dual threat of Djed Spence and Hayden Coulson.

Blackburn were reduced to long-range efforts, though Williams' decision to go down that route late in the half was perhaps the wrong one given the space he was afforded.

Paddy McNair produced a dream of a cross six minutes after the break that fell to Howson at the back post, but Pears made a sprawling save to deny his former club.

Pears made an even better save just after, showing brilliant reflexes to tip over Marcus Tavernier's improvised shot from another excellent cross.

It should have laid the platform for an opener for Blackburn on the hour mark when Harvey Elliott's neat reserve pass found Rankin-Costell, who delivered the perfect low cross that begged to be tapped in but neither Ben Brereton or Gallagher could lay a limb on the ball.

Set plays looked increasingly like Boro's salvation but Fry headed an inviting cross wide at the death.

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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Leeds UnitedLeeds26158348192953
2Burnley26141023192252
3Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd26166436171952
4Sunderland26148439221750
5Middlesbrough26118743321141
6West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom26913432211140
7Blackburn RoversBlackburn2511682823539
8Bristol City2691073330337
9Watford25114103536-137
10Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds2610793840-237
11Norwich CityNorwich269984337636
12Swansea CitySwansea2697103030034
13Queens Park RangersQPR2671182934-532
14Millwall257992423130
15Preston North EndPreston2661282834-630
16Coventry CityCoventry2678113437-329
17Oxford UnitedOxford Utd2577112840-1228
18Derby CountyDerby2676133135-427
19Stoke CityStoke2669112432-827
20Luton TownLuton2674152744-1725
21Portsmouth2458113041-1123
22Hull City2658132536-1123
23Cardiff CityCardiff2558122540-1523
24Plymouth ArgylePlymouth2548132453-2920


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