Match Ratings: Blackpool 1 Middlesbrough 2

Goals

0-1: Woodgate (81 – climbed highest to head past Lewis from Leadbitter’s corner)

1-1: Gibson OG (85 – diverted a Blackpool cross into his own net)

2-1: Kike (88 – headed in off the underside of the bar from Tomlin’s cross)

Bookings: Clark (foul, 4)

Referee: Chris Kavanagh (Manchester): A bit lenient at times and found seven minutes of stoppage time from nowhere at the end. 5

Attendance: 10,806

Rating: PPP

BLACKPOOL (4-4-2): LEWIS 7; McMahon 6, Clarke 6, O'Dea 5, Dunne 5 (Maher, 48); O'Hara 6, Perkins 6, Cameron 6 (Delfouneso, 73), Orlandi 7; Telford 7, Davies 6 (Madine, 60).

Subs: Parish, Aldred, Waddington, Rothwell.

MIDDLESBROUGH (3-5-2):

7 Konstantopoulos: Rarely called into action, but stayed alert and directed his back line well;

8 Kalas: Tidy on the ball and looked comfortable as part of a back three

8 WOODGATE: Hesitated on a couple of occasions, but came through his first league start of the season with an important goal

6 Ayala: Looked solid on his return, but his night was cut short through injury

7 Adomah: Worked hard to get up and down the right and weighed in with some defensive duties

8 Forshaw: Came close to opening his Boro account in the first half and was a strong presence in the middle

8 Clayton: Created some of Boro’s best chances and never stopped working throughout

7 Whitehead: Kept things ticking over and always looked to press the hosts

5 Reach: Saw plenty of the ball, but didn’t put McMahon under as much pressure as he should have;

7 Vossen: Put a shift in and showed some lovely touches, but couldn’t find a breakthrough

7 Kike: Linked up well with Vossen, and got the all important winning goal

Subs

Gibson (for Ayala, 51): Unlucky to score an own goal, but was solid otherwise. 6

Leadbitter (for Whitehead, 60): Pushed Boro on and his set piece created the opener. 7

Tomlin (for Vossen, 80)

Not used: Mejias, Ledesma, Omeruo, Bamford.

Man of the match – JONATHAN Woodgate – Completed 90 minutes on his first league start of the season and got the all important breakthrough