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Conway fires Boro ahead inside 90 seconds at Ewood Park Iling-Junior adds deflected second soon after Middlesbrough up to fifth with win Blackburn stay 11th having taken just one point from past seven games New Rovers boss Valerien Ismael still awaiting first win amid off-field troubles Get Involved: #bbcefl, Whats App 03301231826, or text 81111 (UK only, standard rates apply) Ben Ashton FT: Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough That's a wrap for our live Championship coverage tonight - thank you for joining us. A fifth win in seven games, thanks to Tommy Conway's strike and a deflected Samuel Iling-Junior effort, has propelled Middlesbrough into fifth and they're staking a major claim for a play-off place. Blackburn's wretched run of five straight defeats and just 15 points from a possible 60 in their past 20 games leaves them seven points adrift of the top six. We've got a humdinger of a day in the second tier tomorrow, which we will be bringing you live as always. Until then, enjoy the rest of your night and see you at about 12: 00 BST to do it all again. All 15: 00 BST kick offs unless stated A reminder of what's to come tomorrow. Boro might be in the play-off spots now - but that will change quickly should both Coventry and West Bromwich Albion win on Saturday lunchtime. .. Big games everywhere you look at this stage of the season, of course. FT: Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough Blackburn Rovers Blackburn boss Valerien Ismael also told Sky Sports: "It's difficult but credit to them, they showed character and came back strongly in the second half. "This is what I said to them. This is the belief we need to have. "When you play like that from minute one and stay in the game at 0-0, at some point you will force your destiny and win the game. "We need to play with more belief but you cannot forget we have a massive injury problem. "When you are missing 8-10 players, a lot of regular starters, then for the Rovers it is a problem. "But the players available tried to give the best. We know the situation we are in is due to the injuries we've got. " FT: Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough Blackburn Rovers Blackburn boss Valerien Ismael speaking to Sky Sports: "We want to start the game well and it puts you in a difficult situation [conceding after 74 seconds]. We can avoid the goal. We lost two important duels. "The second goal shows the situation at the minute, deflecting into our own goal. "I think at the end of the first half and completely in the second half is how we wanted to start the game with more belief, desire, focus on ourselves. "The performance was there, you just need to stay at 0-0 for as long as possible and at some point to make a chance. "We had a good chance in the second half to score but we don't have the luck at the minute. "The first mistake you make or the opponent's first shot goes in the goal, so it's difficult. " FT: Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough Middlesbrough More from Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick now who has been speaking to Sky Sports: On the opening goal after just 74 seconds: "It was a really good move, good football, clinical really. Cut through the pitch quickly. "Fantastic finish by Tommy [Conway]. It's what he's good at. It gives us a fantastic start. "Credit to them, they pressed us a lot but I thought we managed the game really well and showed good maturity in the game. " On whether Boro have the momentum to reach the play-offs: "Let's not get too carried away, there is a lot to go. I've seen it before. I'm old enough and ugly enough to know what the end of this season brings. "Tonight was a good win for us and we've got another big game on Tuesday night. "We'll take each game as it comes and we're in a good place. " Just the small matter of Leeds at home on Tuesday night for Boro. .. FT: Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough Middlesbrough Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick speaking to Sky Sports: "Like I said before the game, at this stage of the season games feel a little bit bigger and the closer we get to the end, it's going to be the case. "We knew tonight was an important one. We knew it was going to be a tough game to be honest. "They made us work for it throughout the whole game even though we got a fantastic start. "We can probably play a little bit better but I thought we defended well as a team. "Professional performance, good performance and it gives us another one ticked off. " FT: Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough Middlesbrough Middlesbrough's Hayden Hackney speaking to Sky Sports: "It was big, we knew coming into the game it was going to be tough. "We didn't know what they were going to do, so we went out there to see what they did and tried to react. In the end, I think we did well. " On winning away from home and keeping a clean sheet: "Scoring two goals, but especially the clean sheet, it was nice to get that. "Getting the win is the most important thing and we've got two on the bounce now so we look forward to the next one now. " FT: Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough Middlesbrough Middlesbrough striker Tommy Conway speaking to Sky Sports: "Massive. I think especially playing on Friday night before, you can pile the pressure on. "We've done our job and put the pressure on those teams around us to perform tomorrow. "For us, it's all about going game by game now. There are six games left, we've ticked two off. "We've done Oxford, we've won tonight. We've done two out of two, so we just want to build on that now. " On his goal: "It was one of my better ones this season. " FT: Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough You can relive all the action from Ewood Park tonight by checking out Jay Freeman's match report. Simply tap on the 'Report' tab at the top of this page to have a read. Now, we'll get some reaction from the victors. .. #bbcefl, Whats App 03301231826, or text 81111 (UK only, standard rates apply) John Eustace started the rot with 8 points out of 32. That form has continued unfortunately. Middlesbrough has a bigger fan base better supported club. Sad truth from a die hard rovers fan. Lloyd FT: Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough How does that look, Middlesbrough fans? Boro move into the play-off spots for the first time in 10 weeks and they might be hitting an excellent run of form at just the right time. Blackburn are now seven points off the top six pace having played one game more than those around them and could end the weekend in 13th if Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall win tomorrow. FT: Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough Neil Maddison Former Middlesbrough midfielder on BBC Tees We were not great second half, but it is about getting the three points. Now over to you - the teams lying just below - Coventry, West Brom, see what you can do. FT: Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough Andy Bayes Reporter, BBC Radio Lancashire It is a very difficult one to know where to stand as, were this team ever going to be a top-six side with this squad? Look at where Middlesbrough are - they [Blackburn] are nowhere near as good. Blackburn Rovers lose for the fifth game in a row. FT: Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough Boos ring around Ewood Park as the protests against Blackburn's ownership continue after the final whistle. "We want Venky's out" rings around once more. Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough Job done for Middlesbrough who make it five wins from seven. They're into the play-off spots with what was a fairly comfortable three points after a blistering opening eight minutes in which they netted twice. Five defeats on the bounce for Blackburn for the first time since 2021 and their quest to finish in the top six seems all but over. Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough Middlesbrough are almost there. The pressure is on Coventry, West Bromwich Albion and Bristol City tomorrow in the race for these final two play-off spots. Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough Four minutes of stoppage time to be played. Blackburn need something spectacular to rescue this one. Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough Yuki Ohashi hits a nice first time volley from the edge of the box for Blackburn and Boro stopper Mark Travers gets down to tip it behind. Rovers can't make anything of the corner and their play-off race might nearly be realistically run. Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough Michael Carrick makes a triple change for Boro. The work is done for the night for attacking trio Kelechi Iheanacho, Tommy Conway and Finn Azaz. No more goals or assists for Azaz to add to his division-high 21 goal contributions this season. Hull City loanee Ryan Giles, Dan Barlaser and Marcus Forss are on. Blackburn 0-2 Middlesbrough Into the final five minutes and almost job done for Michael Carrick's side. Carrick will have happy memories of this ground. .. he was part of the Manchester United team that clinched the Premier League title at Ewood Park in 2011. This could still yet be a very fruitful season for him with Boro who are heading fifth tonight as things stand. Middlesbrough have now won five games in their past seven, having lost six of seven before that Middlesbrough gave their Championship play-off hopes a massive boost as they eased to a 2-0 win at out-of-form Blackburn Rovers to move up to fifth in the table. Boro got off to a flier in eight hapless defensive minutes for Blackburn - Tommy Conway's sensational strike opening the scoring inside 90 seconds and Samuel Iling-Junior's shot cannoning home off Danny Batth for the visitors' second. Michael Carrick's side had a flurry of chances in the second half to put the game to bed - first when Delano Burgzorg's cut-back to an unmarked Conway missed its intended target and again when Finn Azaz bobbled his effort wide. Other than second-half efforts from Todd Cantwell and Yuki Ohashi, Blackburn rarely threatened Middlesbrough's lead as they sank to a fifth consecutive defeat and extended their winless run to seven games. The win is Middlesbrough's fifth victory in their past seven matches and pushes them into the play-off places - and three points clear of seventh position - with six games remaining. Blackburn, meanwhile, are still without a win in Valerien Ismael's tenure and offered little to suggest they can make up the seven-point deficit on the top six before the season's end. Venky's 'do not want to sell' Blackburn Rovers What we learned from Blackburn hierarchy interview On the evidence of their performance on Friday, it will take a seismic upturn in form for Blackburn to make up ground on the play-off positions, and it was a nightmare start for Ismael's men. A flowing move, created by Kelechi Iheanacho, led to Conway taking a sumptuous touch and turn before firing Boro ahead with his 12th Championship goal of the season - and the visitors were not done there. Carrick's side cantered into a 2-0 lead without even breaking a sweat, Rovers keeper Aynsley Pears wrong-footed after Iling-Junior's effort initially looked to be sailing off target before Batth diverted the ball into his own net. The opening stages proved to be tough viewing for Blackburn chief executive Steve Waggott, chief operating officer Suhail Pasha and head of football operations Rudy Gestede - with the trio in the stands despite fan groups urging them not to attend the remainder of Rovers' home games this season. Waggott told BBC Radio Lancashire earlier this week he intended to maintain engagement with the club's fanbase despite criticism of the way the club was run - but, after the torrid start, chants against Venky's ownership rang around Ewood Park. Blackburn did at least show some attacking threat after the break as Cantwell shot narrowly wide from the left of the box and Ohashi's powerful effort from a tight angle forced a fine save from Boro keeper Mark Travers. But Boro saw out a well-earned win and kept a clean sheet to prove their play-off credentials and lay down a marker with their top-six rivals all in action on Saturday. Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Last Updated 4th April 2025 at 21: 55 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: Valérien Ismaël Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Michael Carrick Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Valérien Ismaël Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Michael Carrick Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 We're still improving Match stats. Let us know what you think. Championship All competitions All competitions All competitions Blackburn Rovers have lost two of their last 19 league games against Middlesbrough (W8 D9) and are unbeaten in their last three (W2 D1). Middlesbrough lost their last league visit to Blackburn last season but haven’t lost consecutive away games at Rovers since December 2006. Blackburn have lost each of their last four league games but haven’t lost five in a row since February 2021 under Tony Mowbray. Middlesbrough have won four of their last six league matches (D1 L1), more than in their previous 15 games combined (W3 D5 L7). Middlesbrough are averaging 14. 2 shots per Championship game this season (552 in 39 games), their highest average in a campaign since 2014-15 (14. 3). Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.