WHATEVER criticism has been hurled at Middlesbrough and Tony Pulis’ tactics in recent weeks, this latest away day victory in the Championship at Ewood Park has proven his squad still possesses the desire and determination to stay in the promotion picture.

With the threat of falling out of the play-off zone after an indifferent run of form looming large and a makeshift defence that had to be tinkered with ever further during the 90 minutes, Boro secured an eighth away win of the season to reclaim fifth spot from Bristol City.

Both the Robins and Derby, sitting below them, still have a game in hand on their play-off rivals, so this was a Sunday afternoon at Tony Mowbray's Blackburn Rovers when Pulis’ Middlesbrough couldn’t afford to slip up again. And they didn’t.

Even though Middlesbrough were unable to add to their slender one-goal advantage after Blackburn were reduced to ten men seconds before the break when Derrick Williams was shown a straight red card, the Teessiders did just enough to claim another victory on the road and should have scored more.

Leading scorer Britt Assombalonga was the man whose 12th goal of the season – his sixth of 2019 - did the damage 19 minutes in after he capitalised on some good attacking play from the recalled Ashley Fletcher.

The pair linked up well together in spells, with Fletcher showing signs of promise on his second league start under Pulis and an energetic Assombalonga justifying his start ahead of Jordan Hugill on this occasion.

Middlesbrough had already had to reshuffle the defensive pack for the trip to Blackburn and yet still managed to keep a clean sheet even when captain George Friend had to hobble off through injury and have Paddy McNair replace him on the left of a three man central defence.

The Middlesbrough skipper was the only senior survivor from the Mowbray era who was in Pulis’ starting line-up, and he was surprisingly used as one of three centre-backs in the absence of the injured Aden Flint and suspended Daniel Ayala.

That meant George Saville and Jonny Howson operated as wing-backs and were given plenty encouragement to get forward when in possession in a bid to improve a run that now boasts a second win in seven games in all competitions. That pair were effective throughout.

While there is likely to have been eyebrows raised about that Pulis decision, particularly in light of the absentees, it was a ploy that had the desired effect because both caused problems to give Middlesbrough the upperhand.

Even before leading scorer Assombalonga opened the scoring, Middlesbrough had looked the more dangerous and consistently got red shirts in and around the box.

Fletcher, starting a league game for only the second time in 16 months and playing alongside his fellow striker, had already threatened an earlier breakthrough when he guided a header towards goal from Lewis Wing’s cross to the back post that dropped into the arms of David Raya.

The Blackburn goalkeeper had also gathered comfortably from a Assombalonga header moments later, and the home side didn’t do anything about the danger signs; in fact they gifted Middlesbrough the lead.

After Middlesbrough had sprayed the ball around the backline, a hopeful punt upfield towards Fletcher looked easy pickings for Rovers captain Charlie Mulgrew.

Instead the defender let the ball bounce rather than head away. Fletcher controlled, beat his man and his shot was deflected towards the back post by Mulgrew’s attempt to block and Assombalonga was alert and onside to force over the line with a back-post header.

Middlesbrough’s new-look defence was hardly tested during that opening period, leading to growing frustration among the Blackburn support. Mowbray’s men couldn’t test Darren Randolph before the break, and Fletcher could easily have made it two.

The £6.5m man was only making his fifth league start in a Middlesbrough shirt and looked determined to take his chance. He wasn’t far away from finding the net either, firing just wide of the near post after cleverly fashioning an opening with Wing.

There was one moment when Blackburn threatened, briefly, but Friend and Shotton did enough to sandwich Middlesbrough old boy Danny Graham when he looked to flick a cross into the area towards Randolph’s goal.

But Blackburn’s improvement was suddenly rocked by the dismissal of Williams. The full-back had allowed Fletcher to get in behind him and when the forward charged towards goal, he was brought down.

Not only was a free-kick, which didn’t come to much, awarded on the edge of the area, but Williams was red carded. There was criticism from some quarters for referee Darren Bond’s decision, although it was easy to see why given how Middlesbrough didn’t gain much of an advantage because it was just outside the area.

Within seconds of the restart – despite Mowbray making a triple substitution at the break – Middlesbrough carried on where they left off. The impressive Wing, who has continued to shine at this level, crashed an effort from distance against the bar with Raya struggling to cover.

But that marked the start of a greater spell of pressure for Blackburn. While Randolph was still not forced into a save, there was plenty more for the Middlesbrough defence to do so the sight of Friend having to hobble off on the hour was a cause for concern.

Blackburn, who went closest when Shotton did well to turn an Amari’i Bell delivery just wide of the near post, probed plenty and Middlesbrough didn’t display the attacking vibrancy they did in the opening period.

They were fortunate not to concede with 13 minutes remaining. Graham had managed to get in behind Shotton and it looked like he could have earned a penalty had he went to ground. Instead he stayed on his feet and blasted wide from six yards with his feet in a muddle.

There was another chance for Fletcher to wrap the points up but he curled into the hands of Raya without conviction after Wing’s find, while Bradley Dack then made Randolph make a fantastic reflex save at the other end with time running out.

It might not have been as routine as it could have been against shorthanded opposition, and yet it was a victory secured nonetheless.