Rovers double sends Boro into drop dogfight

Middlesbrough 0 Blackburn 2

Goals in either half from Finnish striker Shefki Kuqi clinched Blackburn's second away Premiership victory of the season after Aiyegbeni Yakubu and Gaizka Mendieta spurned early chances for Middlesbrough.

It leaves Middlesbrough with just two points from their last five Premiership games and boss McClaren, still reeling from the Carling Cup defeat to Blackburn last Wednesday, conceded: "We're in that spell at the moment where we can't score and we can't keep a clean sheet.