How did the players fare in Middlesbrough's 1-0 defeat at Blackburn?


BLACKBURN (3-4-1-2):

Kaminski 6; Lenihan 7, VAN HECKE 8, Wharton 7; Nyambe 7, Travis 6, Johnson 6, Edun 5; Buckley 6; Khadra 6 (Butterworth 77), Gallagher 7.

Subs (not used): Pears (gk), Ayala, Davenport, Rankin-Costello, Garrett, Zeefuik.


MIDDLESBROUGH (3-5-2):

6 Lumley: Finished on the losing side, but wasn’t really extended – didn’t have a chance with Gallagher’s winner

6 Dijksteel: Put himself about willingly as part of Boro’s back three and did a good job of keeping Buckley quiet

7 Fry: Won his individual battle for most of the evening and produced a couple of dominant defensive headers

5 McNair: He doesn’t make many mistakes – but his slip and subsequent air kick was the key to Blackburn’s goal

8 JONES: Was at the heart of most of Boro’s best moves once again, surging down the right and delivering balls into the box

7 Crooks: Almost broke the deadlock with a header that was cleared off the line, but wasted a decent late chance when he headed wide

6 Howson: Covered lots of ground at the heart of midfield, but wasn’t really able to thread any balls beyond the Rovers defence

5 Tavernier: Kept on plugging away, but is going through a spell where nothing really is coming off for him

6 Taylor: Put a lot of effort in down the left-hand side and made a decent job of handling Khadra’s attacking threat

5 Connolly: His effort couldn’t be faulted, but he struggled to find space and sliced a late shot wide of the target

5 Sporar: Was knocked off the ball far too easily – has his qualities, but can often struggle against physically-imposing defenders


Subs:

Balogun (for Howson, 80)

Watmore (for Dijksteel, 89)

Coburn (for Taylor, 90)

(not used): Daniels (gk), Peltier, Bamba, Payero.

 

Man Of The Match: JAN PAUL VAN HECKE – The Blackburn centre-half dominated both of Middlesbrough’s forwards and led his side’s backline superbly.