Striker Curtis Main headed a late winner and was then sent-off as Middlesbrough ended a dismal sequence of five straight league defeats with a 1-0 victory over Leeds United at the Riverside.
The 20-year-old got himself on the end of substitute Ishmael Miller’s cross with nine minutes remaining and looped his finish beyond goalkeeper Paddy Kenny. But he was then dismissed for two rapid yellow cards.
Boro skipper Rhys Williams proceeded to strike an early volley over before David Norris had a couple of opportunities in reply, with Jason Steele saving the second of them. Ross McCormack then forced a timely clearance from the line by former Leeds defender Jonathan Woodgate.
Meanwhile, Kenny blocked well from Faris Haroun following Josh McEachran’s inviting through pass in the opposite direction, while McCormack delivered a free-kick into the clutches of Steele after the break.
Home midfielder Grant Leadbitter also curled a set-piece wide before twice being denied by Kenny, although it took a timely block from George Friend to avoid danger at the other end.
But Boro went on to snatch it as Main headed Miller’s late cross beyond Kenny, whose opposite number Steele then tipped over from substitute Habibou to ensure a long overdue return to winning ways.
Middlesbrough: Steele, Parnaby, Woodgate (Halliday 66), Bikey, Friend, Haroun, R. Williams, Leadbitter, McEachran (Miller 74), Carayol (Bailey 88), Main
subs (unused): Leutwiler, Smallwood, Ledesma, Jutkiewicz
Goals: Main (81)
Leeds United: Kenny, Peltier, Lees, Warnock, Green (Diouf 84), Varney, Brown (Habibou 89), Norris (Austin 84), Byram, Morison,
McCormack
subs (unused): Ashdown, Pearce, White, Tonge
Ref: Stroud
Att: 18,388
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