BACK in September, Middlesbrough’s defensive horror show at Goodison Park must have given Aitor Karanka nightmares.

A manager who prides himself on sending out a team with a strong defensive shape must have felt sick to the stomach as Everton scored three times in the final 20 minutes of the first half to seal the points.

The return fixture at the Riverside Stadium was much more like it from a Karanka team boasting the best defensive record outside the Premier League’s top six. The challenge remains trying to solve the problems at the other end.

Middlesbrough’s unwanted record of being the only top-tier team yet to score 20 goals is a worrying statistic and one that could still lead to them falling into the division’s bottom three if it is not addressed in the final 13 games.

Five of Middlesbrough’s next seven league matches will be against teams in the bottom half of the table, so boosting the goals tally during that period will be crucial in the fight to beat the drop.

Just as in the defeat at Tottenham seven days earlier, Middlesbrough did well against an in-form Everton team chasing a European place and they might even have won had Rudy Gestede’s late header not been tipped over by Joel Robles.

The bigger picture is that Middlesbrough have struggled to score goals all season, regardless of the opposition, which is a result of the defensive mindset Karanka instils in his team.

Middlesbrough have clearly addressed the defensive weaknesses exposed on that September afternoon on Merseyside; the task Karanka now faces is to make sure the visit of the Toffees is the last time during a crucial period that they fail to find the net.

Karanka said: “We’ve learned our lessons and improved as a Premier League team since those early days. We lost the game at Everton in 10-15 minutes and now Everton are better than they were, working with Ronald Koeman, and we competed with them. I’m proud of the players again.

“You have to remember that we don’t have a lot of Premier League experience, we’ve come through a tough run of games and I’m really positive. When we play like this against the teams fighting against us in the table we will win games.

“Once again we’ve competed against one of the best teams in the league, we were at least as good as them. We were organised and created chances and the crowd was behind us again. It was almost the perfect game.”

The ‘perfect game’ was probably a bit over the top. Middlesbrough were resilient and determined to earn a result and they did so, with the draw specialists claiming a tenth of the campaign.

But given how Karanka likes his team to be defensively sound and look to counter quickly, this was a Middlesbrough performance that almost ended Everton’s unbeaten run that stretches back to before Christmas.

It was before the festivities when Middlesbrough last won a game in the league too, and they are still waiting for a fifth win from 25 matches. Clearly the lack of victories, and goals, is why the Teesside club remain too close to the bottom three for comfort.

While Robles’ stunning save in the dying stages prevented a Boro win, his compatriot Victor Valdes was just as influential, probably more so, at the other end of the pitch to prevent Everton from winning again.

Valdes made an impressive stop with his left boot to deny Lukaku in the first half and followed that up with two further stops with his legs to thwart Ademola Lookman. On another day any of those could have found the net and the positive mood would have been different.

Karanka is delighted with Valdes’ form.

He said: “The two keepers from Spain both did well, Valdes’ saves were really important for us. He’s an important player both on and off the pitch and I’m really pleased for him.

“The first thing I told him when he came here was that he should enjoy his football. It was a long way to get Victor to come here.

“Our relationship wasn’t the best when he was at Barcelona and I was with Real Madrid but now it is good.

“He’s enjoying his football again, which is the main thing, and his experience is a great help for us with everyone.”

After the problems January, both on and off the pitch, Middlesbrough needed a performance to galvanise the club. It was also important that Gaston Ramirez was handed some minutes after Karanka’s decision to block the move to Leicester City he wanted before the deadline.

Ramirez was introduced for the final 24 minutes and was given a decent enough reception from the supporters.

After a few shaky moments early on, he found his feet and made a couple of probing runs that are his hallmark.

He will be a key player in Middlesbrough’s attempts to score more goals.

Karanka said: “Gaston has been out for more than a month so I don’t want to make mistakes with injured players, he’s going to be more important and have more impact than from the bench.

“He benefited from going to Spain with the squad last week, for the new players, for everyone.

“It was good for the squad to spend 24 hours a day together, this group has shown again how strong they are and we need to keep going. I am feeling positive.”