Full-time: Charlton 0 Middlesbrough 0

ON the face of it, it seemed a remarkable thing to come out with. “For me, this game was much more difficult than the game at Anfield,” said Aitor Karanka, after his Middlesbrough side had battled their way to a goalless draw at Charlton Athletic.

Really? Perhaps not in terms of the quality of the opposition or the drama that unfolded in the closing stages. But when it came to displaying collective resolve and overcoming adversity in order to claim a point that could prove crucial in achieving the season’s main aim, namely promotion, Karanka’s comment was not without merit.

Forget Tuesday’s glamour night against Liverpool, it is games like the one at The Valley that will determine whether Boro succeed this season, and while a point could be viewed as a disappointing return given the Teessiders’ dominance of what proved an increasingly frustrating afternoon, it felt like an achievement of sorts given the challenges that presented themselves in the closing stages.

Reduced to ten men following the controversial dismissal of Albert Adomah – referee Gavin Ward initially awarded Boro a free-kick when Adomah clashed with Rhoys Wiggins, only for his assistant to persuade him to change his mind and issue the Boro midfielder with a second yellow card – Karanka’s side suddenly found themselves under the cosh for the first time all game.

Dimi Konstantopoulos, who had been a spectator for 90 minutes, had to make a fine reflex save to prevent Lawrie Wilson from squeezing home a low shot; Adam Clayton, impressive throughout as the only holding midfielder, had to be alert enough to clear George Tucudean’s stoppage-time header off the line.

It was a rearguard action completely out of keeping with everything that had gone before, but also one that, in its own way, was every bit as impressive as some of the flowing football that had carried Boro to three straight wins in their previous league games. “The players have shown real spirit in the end to come away with a point,” said Karanka. “In the beginning, when I first came here, we made mistakes in situations like that and lost those kinds of games in the last minute.

“Now, even though we had one player less and had been playing at Anfield for 120 minutes so were very tired on the pitch, we kept our concentration. For me, that’s a really important thing. If we are a consistent team like that, we are going to win games for sure.”

The flip side of that argument is that Boro would not have needed to dig so deep had they put the game out of Charlton’s reach when they were at their most dominant, and if there is an element of frustration in the wake of Saturday’s first league draw of the season, it is because the visitors’ bright attacking play for once went unrewarded.

Having abandoned his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation to field a more orthodox 4-4-2 with Patrick Bamford and Kike paired as central strikers and Lee Tomlin given license to push forward from central midfield, Karanka was able to watch his side dominate the first half.

Their slick interplay tended to founder in the final third though, and for all that Adomah, Kike and Bamford all went close before the interval, Charlton goalkeeper Stephen Henderson was never really required to make a meaningful save. That remained unchanged in the second half.

As the game wore on, Boro grew increasingly weary and predictable, with Adam Reach’s incursions down the left flank becoming less prevalent and neither Kike nor Bamford quite doing enough to get behind the Charlton back four.

“I’m happy with the way the changes worked because we didn’t have a lot of time to work with the shape,” said Karanka. “The players were brilliant.

“I didn’t want to put Grant (Leadbitter) on the pitch again because it would have been his sixth game in a row and that’s too much. I don’t want to take a risk with him. I changed our shape, and we were very good, although in the end, we had to change back to how we play normally.”

That switch was partially a response to Charlton’s increased second-half threat, although the game might well have finished differently had Andre Bikey received what would have been a deserved red card in the 72nd minute.

Caught flat-footed by Bamford’s turn of pace, Bikey, who made 37 appearances for Boro during the 2012-13 season, thrust out an elbow and clearly caught his opponent in the head. Somehow, both Ward and his assistant either missed the incident completely or deemed it unworthy of censure.

“I can’t really say anything about the first one (Bikey) because the linesman was much closer than me,” said Karanka. “But the second one (Adomah) is difficult for me to understand.

“How did the referee whistle and give a foul to us, when he was two metres from the foul, and then five or six seconds later, he was overruled by the linesman who told him it was the opposite and a red card? I can’t understand that.”