Full-time: Middlesbrough 2 Huddersfield Town 0

MIDDLESBROUGH kept up the pressure on the sides above them in the Championship table as they got back to winning ways with a hard-fought victory over Huddersfield Town.

Lee Tomlin’s second-half double was enough to settle things, and ensure Boro remain four points adrift of league leaders Bournemouth in fourth position.

The Teessiders just about deserved their victory after dominating the majority of the game, although their failure to convert a succession of chances almost proved costly as Huddersfield staged a grandstand finish.

Tomlin’s 61st-minute strike broke the deadlock, but Dimi Konstantopoulos was forced to produce three excellent late saves to keep Boro in front before Daniel Ayala cleared the ball from the line in stoppage time.

With Huddersfield goalkeeper Alex Smithies in the Boro box, Tomlin rolled the ball into an empty net in the final act of the game to claim his second goal of the game and finally put the outcome beyond doubt.

Aitor Karanka made three changes to his Boro side, recalling Adam Clayton after suspension and preferring Tomlin and Kike to Adam Reach and Jelle Vossen.

With Patrick Bamford starting on the right and Albert Adomah initially lining up on the left, the Teessiders made a bright start but were unable to make their superiority count.

They almost broke the deadlock in the sixth minute, but after picking up the ball and driving towards the Huddersfield penalty area, Kike drilled in a low shot that rebounded off the base of the left-hand post. It was to be as close as Boro came to a breakthrough throughout the first half.

With Tomas Kalas impressing as he made a series of overlapping runs down the right, Boro were the dominant side before the break, but they failed to force Huddersfield goalkeeper Alex Smithies into a single save.

Bamford curled over in the eighth minute before rounding the goalkeeper shortly after, only to fire into the side-netting from an extremely acute angle.

The Chelsea loanee completed a hat-trick of misses midway through the first half, although he was somewhat unfortunate to see his shot from an Adomah pull back deflect well wide off an opposition defender.

Huddersfield were forced into a first-half reshuffle when striker James Vaughan was forced off after receiving an unintentional kick from Kalas, but Boro’s early threat gradually fizzled out.

Bamford wasted a glorious opportunity by heading wide from inside the six-yard box after Daniel Ayala had flicked on Grant Leadbitter’s corner, and the opening period came to a tame conclusion as Adam Clayton, playing against his former employers, fired well over from just outside the penalty box.

Boro needed to pick things up in the second half, and to their credit, they came close to making a breakthrough within 60 seconds of the restart.

Bamford did well to keep the ball alive and pull it back from close to the touchline, but having surged into some space in the area, Kike shanked a shot well wide.

Tomlin cut in from the left-hand side to shoot over shortly after, but when the forward next threatened shortly after the hour mark, his impact was considerably more significant.

Picking up a loose ball in the middle of the field and driving towards the area, Tomlin lashed home a ferocious 20-yard strike that gave Smithies no chance. In a game of limited attacking quality, it was a truly top-class finish.

It was followed by Huddersfield’s best effort of the game, with Konstantopoulos getting down well to turn Jacob Butterfield’s shot around the post.

Smithies saved from Albert Adomah as Boro attempted to make the game safe, but with the hosts dropping deeper in the closing stages, they were forced to a number of nervy moments in order to see the game safe.

First, Huddersfield’s players were incensed when they were not awarded a penalty despite Ayala appearing to use his arm to block a 75th-minute cross.

Then, with 11 minutes left, Wells found himself in space on the right-hand side of the area, only for his curled effort to rebound off the far post with Konstantopoulos beaten.

And finally, Konstantopoulos made two excellent late saves from Wells, turning the striker’s angled strike around the post before blocking the same player’s close-range effort from the resultant corner.

There was still time for Conor Coady to loop in a header that Ayala cleared from the line, and with Smithies in the opposition area, Boro broke upfield to enable Tomlin to roll home his second goal of the game into an unguarded net.

Middlesbrough (4-2-3-1):  Konstantopoulos; Kalas, Ayala, Gibson, Friend; Leadbitter, Clayton; Adomah, Tomlin, Bamford (Reach 73); Kike (Vossen 84).

Subs (not used): Mejias (gk), Husband, Omeruo, Whitehead, Ledesma.

Huddersfield (4-5-1): Smithies; Smith, Lynch, Hudson, Robinson (Lolley 81); Scannell, Hogg (Peltier 46), Butterfield, Coady, Wells; Vaughan (Gobern 24).

Subs (not used): Allinson (gk), Dixon, Billing, Majewski.