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Middlesbrough ease to victory at Birmingham in the Championship Targett slots Boro into early lead & adds second with similar low strike Strelec heads in to make it 3-1 to visitors Ducksch scores for Blues straight after break Second-placed Boro now five points behind leaders Coventry Birmingham remain eight points outside the play-offs Have your say using the Get Involved button Ian Woodcock Birmingham 0-2 Middlesbrough Boro striker Tommy Conway goes down in the area. Nothing doing. Birmingham 0-2 Middlesbrough Birmingham go on their first salvo forward in some time but Patrick Roberts' ball into the middle is just a little heavy. Better though. Birmingham 0-2 Middlesbrough Neil Maddison Former Middlesbrough midfielder on BBC Radio Tees It's a big nine minutes this. Can you keep a clean sheet going into half-time or get a third? I've really enjoyed the way we've played. Aidan Morris has been brilliant but everyone's played their part. Birmingham 0-2 Middlesbrough Birmingham boss Chris Davies made four changes for this game from the side who started the 3-0 loss at Millwall. I wonder how many alterations he might make at the break. His side are miles off it just now. Birmingham 0-2 Middlesbrough Before tonight Matt Targett had six goals in 213 league appearances. He's scored twice tonight. Birmingham 0-2 Middlesbrough The away side win a free-kick in a decent area down their right. Matt Targett swings it in with his left foot and the hosts just about get it clear before Hayden Hackney has a shot that goes out for a throw in. Birmingham 0-2 Middlesbrough Middlesbrough are dominant now. The first 10 minutes of this game, where they struggled to get past the halfway line feels like a long time ago now. Birmingham 0-2 Middlesbrough Ian Clarkson Ex-Birmingham captain on BBC Radio WM We've fallen off a cliff. If you concede two goals like that it's always going to be difficult. We're not defending well but it's not Beadle's fault. If you can't get through the press then you've got to change something. Targett has been given the freedom of Birmingham, he's got oceans of space on that left-hand side. We started well but they've given themselves a mountain to climb. Birmingham 0-2 Middlesbrough The home fans are not happy with what they're seeing. Goalkeeper James Beadle passes the ball out of play under no pressure and the jeers are growing louder. Birmingham 0-2 Middlesbrough Clearly Birmingham City have no plans on reaching the top six! They are awful! Chris - York Birmingham 0-2 Middlesbrough Just a reminder, Birmingham have lost one home game in the league since May 2024. Mountain to climb now. Birmingham 0-2 Middlesbrough Mark Drury BBC Radio Tees commentator What on earth is going on here? Boro's wing-back has scored two goals in the first 25 minutes. Matt Targett is on a hat-trick. Matt Targett He's done it again! Matt Targett at the double! A real mess from a Birmingham perspective this. A real mess. A throw down the line on the right bounces off a couple of heads before falling to Hayden Hackney 18 yards out and he passes to the on-rushing Targett to finish low down with class once more. Birmingham 0-1 Middlesbrough Birmingham's play has become really scrappy since conceding the goal. They just look to regain some composure with some passing in the middle of the park but then a pass forward is overcooked and Boro have it back. Birmingham 0-1 Middlesbrough Birmingham goalkeeper James Beadle nearly passes straight out to a Middlesbrough forward in his own penalty area. Skipper Christoph Klarer digs him out. Birmingham 0-1 Middlesbrough Ian Clarkson Ex-Birmingham captain on BBC Radio WM Obviously the goal has knocked Blues a bit. We've lost a bit of composure and it's gone a little bit bitty. We need to keep playing how we are but with a bit more quality. Birmingham 0-1 Middlesbrough That goal has really taken the wind out of Birmingham's sails. The away side suddenly look very much a side second in the table. Birmingham 0-1 Middlesbrough Matt Targett has scored three goals for Middlesbrough since joining on loan from Newcastle in August. He'd never scored three goals in a single season before. Birmingham 0-1 Middlesbrough After some treatment Birmingham goalkeeper James Beadle and defender Jonathan Panzo are both ok to continue. Good to see. Birmingham 0-1 Middlesbrough Not good. Blues goalkeeper James Beadle runs straight into team-mate Jonathan Panzo as they look to deal with a ball into the channel. Both getting treatment. Matt Targett has scored four times for Middlesbrough this season Matt Targett scored twice in a game for the first time in his career as Middlesbrough saw off Birmingham City to get back to winning ways in the Championship. After three games without a victory, the on-loan Newcastle United defender struck twice in the first half to enable Boro to cut the gap to leaders Coventry City back to five points. Marvin Ducksch pulled one back at the start of the second half for Blues before David Strelec's header on the hour-mark sealed the victory. The result also restored a vital four-point cushion over Millwall in third, as Kim Hellberg's side seek a Premier League return for the first time since 2017. It was only a second home league defeat for Blues in 42 matches as they drop a place to 12th, eight points adrift of the play-off spots, on a weekend when all of the Championship's top nine teams won. For the third Monday out of four, Middlesbrough found themselves on the road and in the spotlight. They were hugely impressive in beating Sheffield United three weeks ago to go top, before defeat at Coventry City seven days later saw the Sky Blues climb back to the summit. The loss at the CBS Arena was then followed by two disappointing home draws with bottom three sides Oxford United and Leicester City. That had allowed Coventry to re-establish an eight-point cushion going into this game as well as seeing the sides below them close the gap. But after coming through a difficult opening, Boro scored with their first attack. Targett got forward from his left wing-back role with Boro having switched from a back four to a back five, broke Blues' offside trap, took Aidan Morris' lofted pass on his chest and with his second touch, stroked it past goalkeeper James Beadle in the manner of a natural centre-forward. Targett had managed only seven goals in 252 previous career games and never two in one match, but he rewrote that statistic on 26 minutes. Blues failed to clear their lines and Hayden Hackney squared it for the 30-year-old to produce an almost identical finish to his first, as he calmly slotted home much to his delight as an ex-Aston Villa player. Chris Davies has struggled for consistency from his Birmingham side this season After a disappointing first half of the season on their return to the Championship, Blues have been moving in the right direction in 2026, helped by six January arrivals demonstrating their undoubted ambition. The heavy midweek loss at Millwall was a first in nine games, but they have maintained strong home form to keep them in the hunt for a play-off spot as they chase successive promotions. To do that now, they will require an almost faultless final third of the campaign. Tommy Doyle brought a fine save out of Sol Brynn inside the first three minutes before they were rocked by Targett's two goals. Ducksch halved the deficit following a fine cutback from Jay Stansfield three minutes into the second period and the Germany forward almost equalised but Brynn got down low to push his effort behind. Blues looked much improved from the passive outfit they had been in the first half. However, just as they were trying to build up a head of steam, Boro's third finished off their chances. Slovakia forward Strelec was about to be substituted, but stayed on long enough to score a textbook header from Ayling's cross for his first goal since mid-December, and a crucial one in Boro's quest for promotion. With Ipswich Town in fourth and fifth-placed Hull City meeting on Tuesday, the gap between themselves and the chasing pack could be reduced to three points, emphasising just how much the Teessiders needed this result. This video can not be played Davies: 'One step forward, two steps back' Birmingham City manager Chris Davies told BBC WM: "Very disappointing. We haven't had many nights like this at home since I've been here. "It was a good start, we really got after them, we were on the front foot, exactly the type of start we wanted to make and then a goal out of nothing really. It's a really soft goal from our point of view. "It rocked us a little bit and then the second goal was really poor, some wrong decisions, we end up in a ridiculous situation where it's bouncing around our box and they score. "It gave us a lot to do against a good team and from that point, I wasn't happy with how we responded. We played back too much, we stopped running forward. "Second half, we came out with more impetus, more forward runs, got ourselves into a great position with a good goal but the third goal was a killer. Once that went in, it was very difficult to get something. "So yes, a tough one. " This video can not be played Hellberg: Boro 'need to enjoy the ride' Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees: "You come to this place - one loss in two years - they've been absolutely brilliant and you can see that, a very good squad, a lot of good players. "For most of the game, we were very, very good, especially in the first half. It was well deserved. "Our pressing today was outstanding. How hard we worked, how many balls we won high, how we frustrated them. The high pressing and energy today was the key and it's good to see we can win like that, absolutely brilliant. " After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users. Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Last Updated 2nd March 2026 at 21: 57 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: Chris Davies Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Kim Hellberg Formation: 3 - 4 - 1 - 2 Manager: Chris Davies Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Kim Hellberg Formation: 3 - 4 - 1 - 2 Championship All competitions All competitions All competitions Birmingham have lost 11 of their last 15 league games against Middlesbrough (W3 D1), losing each of the last six since a 2-0 win in October 2021. Middlesbrough have won their last four away league games against Birmingham, only having longer runs against Rotherham (6 between 1956-1962) and Liverpool (5 between 1957 and 1960). No Championship side has lost fewer home league games than Birmingham this season (1). Their 3-2 loss to Hull in October is their only defeat in their last 41 league games at St Andrew’s (W29 D11). Middlesbrough have won five of their last eight away league games (L3), as many as they had in their previous 20 (D5 L10). Morgan Whittaker has been involved in more away goals than any other Middlesbrough player in the Championship this season (8 – 4 goals, 4 assists). Copyright © 2026 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.