Middlesbrough 0-0 Oxford United: Boro held to a point at the Riverside

Boro dropped crucial points in the race for the automatic promotion places in the EFL Championship on Saturday at the Riverside.

Despite having 20 shots and 75% possession, Hellberg’s side failed to score past the resilient Oxford backline.

The Teessiders went into the game following a bitter defeat at Coventry on Monday, which saw the Sky Blues regain top spot.

With 15 minutes played, Boro maintained the majority of the ball, and from a Hayden Hackney corner, they appealed for a penalty when Matt Targett’s hooked cross to the box struck the flailing arm of Cameron Brannagan, but the referee Oliver Langford waved the appeals away.

Despite having a lot less of the ball, Oxford almost took a shock lead when Stanley Mills’ long range effort struck the bar, before being collected by Sol Brynn.

Oxford rattled the frame of the goal again just before half time, when Jack Currie’s cross to the back post found the foot of Mills, whose shot was redirected by Myles Pear-Harris past Brynn in goal however onto the post.

In the second half, Boro held most of the ball but failed to capitalise on their chances.

David Strelec’s ball found Tommy Conway one-on-one with the Oxford goalkeeper, Jamie Cumming, however his shot was weak and straight at the keeper from close range.

Boro almost took the lead from a freak own goal from Christ Makosso.

A flick-on from Morgan Whittaker saw the defender running towards his own goal with Kaly Sene tracking him down, Cumming came out to claim the ball however Makosso headed the ball towards the empty net, but the header was narrowly wide and hit the side netting.

The result for Middlesbrough saw them lose ground on promotion rivals Coventry, who won away from home, but extended the gap between Millwall and Ipswich, with them both losing away from home.

Boro’s next match is at the Riverside on Tuesday 24th February against relegation-threatened Leicester City at 19:45.