Last night's first game under the watchful eye of Leo Percovich had all the hallmarks he could have wished for. 

In the seconds before kick-off, Leo’s rallying cry before the game was resounded across the speakers by former BBC Radio Tees presenter John Foster. ‘Forged in iron and steel. We are Teesside, we are Middlesbrough.’ As we’ve seen many times over the years, Percovich clenched his fist, beat his chest and held his hand aloft in salute to the crowd. The backing sound was the twelfth man beating their drum and chanting his name. When the Uruguyuan went to sleep the night before, that was pretty much as close to what he dreamt of seeing and hearing.

Eight minutes in, Leo inevitably showed his fiery side. Troy Deeney chased a ball off the pitch to take a quick throw-in only to be confronted by Boro’s interim manager. Deeney, a usual culprit of aggression, barged his way past Leo to the ball. Leo took exception to his physicality and got right in his face where the two exchanged some frank words. Referee Michael Salisbury smoothed things over and Percovich took less than ten minutes to receive the first warning of his managerial career to date.

Midway through the first half, breakthrough for Boro as Chuba Akpom slams the ball high into the net after a scramble in the box from a corner. Many would have expected Leo to have carried out the wildest celebrations in the stadium. Instead, he turned back to his coaching trio Craig Liddle, Mark Tinkler and Lee Cattermole and gave them a show of appreciation. After a quick consultation, it was back to the matters at hand. After the coming together with Deeney, perhaps the burden of responsibility took ownership. Then again, he had every right to enjoy that moment if he wanted to.

He was cutting the figure of a man who knew there was a responsibility to steady the ship after a rocky start to the campaign but make no mistake about it, Leo was relishing every second in the dugout. Throughout the 90 minutes, he barely looked back at his bench.

In the end, it wasn’t pretty or dominant but Boro got the job done which was the absolute minimum required from the game. Percovich then gathered all of the players into a huddle in the middle of the pitch in a show of unity we’ve not seen for some time at the club.

The iron and steel Leo demanded before the game was there for all to see. The performance wasn’t pretty but there were spells where Boro showed much more confidence than in recent weeks. A result of Leo and his coaching trio’s work on the training ground? Perhaps.