Blackburn 2-1 Middlesbrough as Boro suffer first defeat of season

Jeremy Sarmiento scored an early opener for Boro, but Blackburn hit back with two quickfire goals early in the second half through Andri Gudjohnsen and Todd Cantwell.

Here’s the story of the game:

DEFENSIVE WORRIES

The warning signs were there in the first half and Blackburn took full advantage in the second.

Although Boro led at the interval at Ewood Park, it was the home side who’d carved out the best of the chances and they only trailed because of two fine Radek Vitek stops and a stunning goal-line block from Luke Ayling.

But the advantage Boro had gained early doors disappeared in six damaging minutes early in the second half, two quickfire goals, both particularly soft from Boro’s perspective. For the equaliser, Vitek conceded a corner he didn't have to and Boro were then static and had two or three players watching the ball rather than attacking Harry Pickering’s delivery from the right. Guðjohnsen attacked it and levelled with a free header.

The second goal will also make for painful viewing in the analysis at Rockliffe in the coming days. Ayling cheaply conceded possession, Vitek parried the initial cross under no pressure when he could have let it go out for a goal-kick and Myles Peart-Harris was caught ball watching as Cantwell made sure he was first to a cross from the right.

The depth in Helberg’s squad can’t be questioned and he has riches in several areas of the pitch, but the head coach is clearly still working to try and find the right balance. Boro were wide open in the Espanyol friendly, were caught out on a couple of occasions in the first half against Wrexham and conceded an early opener at Lincoln last week.

FAILURE TO BUILD ON PROMISING OPENING

There was so much to like about Boro’s opening goal after 12 minutes: the patient build-up, the fast feet from Morgan Whittaker to find a way through the congestion and the clinical finish from Sarmiento, his first in red since his January arrival.

Whittaker endured something of a frustrating afternoon against Lincoln last week but the forward can let his numbers do the talking – only four players had more goal involvements in the division last season – and his first assist of the campaign was superb, a couple of sharp touches to create himself and the vision to pick out and play in his close friend Sarmiento.

Sarmiento can use Whittaker as inspiration, for two seasons ago the latter underwhelmed after a January move but stepped up last term after a full pre-season. Sarmiento says he feels “at home” at Boro and the early weeks of the season have been promising for the winger.

But the opening goal wasn't the springboard it should have been for Boro.

For all Mowbray wants to breathe new life into Ewood Park, Blackburn won just four of their 23 home games last season and scored only 19 goals. Only Sheffield Wednesday had a worse home record. With that in mind, the frustrations from last season would have surely soon come to the fore had Boro gone for the jugular and managed to build on their early breakthrough.

Instead, Rovers were given encouragement and rather than the apathy that has been commonplace at Ewood Park in recent seasons, there was real noise in the second half as Mowbray’s side successfully held off Boro.

STARK REMINDER

Mowbray has obviously watched a lot of Boro and his assistant Mike Dodds was part of Oxford’s coaching team when they ground out a draw at the Riverside last season. And both used their experience to help Rovers see this one out.

Boro bossed the ball and the territory and had their moments, Peart-Harris denied a headed goal soon after Blackburn’s equaliser and Callum Brittain slicing wide when unmarked inside the area, but the longer the game went on the less they looked like scoring.

They probed, they had all the ball and Hellberg turned to his bench, introducing the likes of Kyle Joseph, Riley McGree and Leo Castledine, but they struggled to turn territory into clear-cut chances and in the final stages some of their punts from outside the area were nothing more than hopeful.

It was, on the whole, a poor display and a stark reminder that Boro are very much a work in progress and Hellberg has issues to address at both ends of the pitch.