Boro loses ground after frustrating stalemate
Middlesbrough's 13-year winless run against Blackburn Rovers at The Riverside extended to 12 games in all competitions after the hosts endured a frustrating 0-0 draw in the EFL Championship.
The result didn't see Boro move from second place on the table, but it did allow Coventry City to extend its lead at the top to eight points after it beat Swansea City 1-0 later in a the day.
Boro's stalemate was the second straight match it has failed to score, with Morgan Whittaker coming closest with an effort that hit the inside of the post and bounced back out from the goal.
Rovers' chances were even fewer on an afternoon that was difficult to take for Boro boss Kim Hellberg.
"As a game in total, it's very disappointing," he said.
"There's so much determination and much willingness to do good, to do right, to do everything for your team-mates, the fans, and I think today that became a little bit of a problem because we started to force things because we wanted it so bad.
"That opened us up for counters and that opened up a lot of technical errors. I'm a bit disappointed with myself in handling that part of the game, in helping the players live up to expectations when we don't have the best of days. We didn't deserve more than a point."
Despite the somewhat dour nature of the match, Rovers boss Valerian Ismael was more than happy to take a point on the road against one of the Championship's front-runners, moving his team into 18th spot and slightly clearer of relegation danger.
"It was a great away game. It was as expected, a tough away game at Middlesbrough and I think they are maybe the best team we have faced this season," he said.
"I think we managed the first half well. They had some good situations, we had some luck, but we defended well. We knew we had to stick to the process to grow throughout the game. We had some great chances to score in the first half and I think we should have taken at least one.
"The second half was brilliant, how we got control of the game. Our pressing was much better and we just needed some quality in the final third. We should have scored one goal at least to get our reward, but apart from that it was a very solid away performance and a second clean sheet in a row for us."
