BRENTFORD 0 MIDDLESBROUGH 1

FOR Chelsea in 1905 and Leeds United in 1928, read Middlesbrough in 2016.

The Teessiders became only the third club in the history of the second tier of the Football League to record nine successive clean sheets as they strengthened their grip on their Championship promotion race with a hard-fought win at Brentford.

With Dimi Konstantopoulos in typically fine form, and Fernando Amorebieta proving an able deputy for the injured Ben Gibson alongside Daniel Ayala, Boro extended their run without conceding a Championship goal to 817 minutes.

That is a staggering record, with their last concession having come in the 3-0 defeat at Hull at the start of November, and their defensive reliability is the key reason why they find themselves six points ahead of second-placed Derby County, with a game in hand over the Rams.

Having survived a couple of early scares, they didn’t have to be at their very best to record another shut-out at Griffin Park, but they were solid when they had to be, and took full advantage of a Brentford gift shortly before the hour mark to claim a 17th league win of the season.

With Bees goalkeeper David Button dreadfully miscuing an attempted punch, Ayala was left with the simple task of bundling the ball home from a yard or so out.

It was a scrappy goal, in keeping with a less-than-fluent, but impressively dogged, overall performance, but these are the kind of results that can prove so crucial in a battle for the title. Crucially, they are also the kind of results that Boro were incapable of achieving in the second half of last season.

There is a real mettle to the current Boro side, as well as a strength in depth that meant that Gibson was not missed despite having been so integral to so many of the recent clean sheets.

His replacement, Amorebieta, scored a dramatic stoppage-time winner when Boro last visited Griffin Park for the first leg of last season’s play-off semi-final, but while the Venezuelan could have been excused some early nerves as he made his first league start since November, it was his partner, Ayala, who was uncharacteristically rocky in the opening stages.

Ayala, whose performances have been a key factor in Boro’s superb defensive record this season, was unusually sluggish as he allowed Lasse Vibe to power past him in the sixth minute, only for Alan Judge to sweep a shot wide from the edge of the area after he had been teed up by his team-mate.

Ayala was flat-footed on that occasion, and things got worse 60 seconds later as he inexplicably trod on the ball to afford Vibe a clear run on goal from halfway inside the Boro half.

Vibe was the last opposition player to score a league goal at the Riverside when he found the net in his side’s 3-1 defeat in September, but he was unable to repeat the feat as he hesitated long enough to allow Konstantopoulos to race off his line to make a fine smothering save.

Boro might have been calmer had Grant Leadbitter scored with a speculative fourth-minute chip that bamboozled Button from 30 yards. Leadbitter did not appear to be in a shooting position, but with little else on, he fashioned a shot that was akin to a golfer lofting a pitching wedge, and struck the stanchion of post and crossbar.

Button claimed Adam Clayton’s deflected strike in the 13th minute, and with Clayton and Leadbitter gradually becoming more prominent in terms of controlling the midfield battle, the visitors overcame their early nerves and began to retain possession much more effectively.  

A goal would have made them even more comfortable, but when a golden chance arrived midway through the first half, it was spurned.

Toumani Diagouraga’s dreadful back-pass left David Nugent with a free run into the area, but for the second game in succession, the striker passed up a golden opportunity with a weak shot that lacked conviction. Nugent’s enforced Christmas break, imposed thanks to his senseless sending off against Birmingham, appears to have blunted his finishing instincts.

His creative talents were on display shortly before the interval, as he teed up Cristhian Stuani for a stinging first-time volley that was well saved. The ball broke awkwardly back to Nugent, but he blazed the rebound over.

With Konstantopoulos also clawing a Judge shot away from close to his right post, it was a surprise that the interval arrived without the deadlock having been broken.

There was no let up to the action in the second half, with Konstantopoulos again called into action to keep out full-back Maxime Colin’s early drive, and the Greek goalkeeper’s reliability was to stand in marked contrast to the failings of his opposite number just before the hour mark.

Button had been reasonably solid before the break, but he erred in spectacular fashion as his attempted punch from Leadbitter’s corner ended up in the back of the net.

He was under a modicum of pressure on the edge of his six-yard box, but that could not excuse the dreadful miscue that saw the ball slice away behind him.

The ball would probably have gone in anyway, but a loitering Ayala made sure, bundling home from close to the goalline to claim his third goal of the season.

With a goal advantage to defend, Boro never looked like being pegged back and while Konstantopoulos had to be brave as he claimed a couple of late corners, this felt like another major step along the road to promotion.