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.

"Our midfield is decimated by injuries and it's a key area to protect your defence and to supply the strikers and at the moment we're in the trenches because of that.

"Every club has one of those spells, but we have to stick together and do the right things every day because I know there are better days ahead."

Yesterday's defeat was only Middlesbrough's second home Premiership loss this season and McClaren is determined not to panic.

"When you look at it, there's only 18 games gone and there are another 20 to go and it's where you end up that's important," he said.

"We'll get through this. We've been here before when we've been in the middle of a spell and we thought it was the end of the world. We know we're better than we're showing at present, but at the moment we've got to make sure it doesn't become a really big issue."

Blackburn boss Mark Hughes was delighted at their victory, but conceded they had to withstand a lot of pressure before Kuqi settled the issue.

"We've had a decent return over the two games at the Riverside getting into a semi-final and three Premiership points," he enthused.

"I thought it was a really committed, professional performance and in many ways it was a more difficult game than last week because we expected a response from Middlesbrough.

"In the initial period they came out very quickly and we had to withstand that. They had a good chance at the opening of the game and thankfully that didn't go in.

"But from that point onwards we withstood everything they threw at us and became stronger as the game progressed. I thought we were good value for the win at the end."

The only concern for Hughes was an injury to captain Andy Todd which forced his withdrawal in the second half and may force him to miss Wednesday's home match against struggling Sunderland.

"He got a bang on the inside of his knee and it flared up quite alarmingly, so that's a concern for us," admitted Hughes.

"We hope it's nothing too serious and it's just a bit of fluid around the joint. Hopefully it will settle down for Wednesday, but I have to say that he's got to be a doubt."

MIDDLESBROUGH: Schwarzer, Riggott, Southgate, Queudrue, Parnaby, Mendieta (Hasselbaink 78), Doriva (Kennedy 78), Rochemback (Johnson 61), Pogatetz, Yakubu, Viduka.

BLACKBURN: Friedel, Khizanishvili, Todd (Mokoena 56), Nelsen, Gray, Emerton, Savage, Tugay, Thompson (Reid 74), Bentley (Bellamy 67), Kuqi.

Referee: U Rennie (S Yorkshire).