Full-time: Middlesbrough 1 Blackburn 1

AN AFTERNOON which started with the little Brazilian Juninho taking centre stage on his return to the Riverside ended with another man in the middle grabbing the spotlight.

In fact, given the drama which unfolded in the final ten minutes, it was easy to forget that the club’s legendary forward was even on Teesside.

For 83 minutes he would have been impressed with the quality of Middlesbrough’s football under Aitor Karanka, with players showing the sort of attacking vibrancy Juninho would have been proud of himself.

And after Patrick Bamford had powered Boro ahead with a strike through a crowded box which deflected beyond the Blackburn’s brilliant goalkeeper Simon Eastwood, a deserved three points looked to have been sealed.

But in the fifth minute of added time Blackburn forced a corner. Ben Marshall floated a delivery over, Dimi Konstantopoulos looked as if he was going to gather it comfortably.

Former Sunderland striker Chris Brown shoved Konstantopoulos in the back, he fell to the floor and was unable to hold as the ball dropped. Rudy Gestede converted in to the empty net and all Middlesbrough’s players demanded a free-kick. Referee Mark Clattenburg allowed the goal to stand.

Middlesbrough had been heading to join Derby County at the top of the Championship but instead dropped a position to fifth and Aitor Karanka was sent to the stands for protesting too much and for pushing fourth official David Coote.

Bamford said: “It’s just passion and everyone needs that in football. It’s a team game and everyone wants to win so sometimes tempers can get heated. The manager might not be shown in a good light because of it but, to be fair to him, I think everyone would get annoyed after that happened.”

And while Karanka apologised for his reactions, there was some sympathy for the manager from Brown himself. He said: “There were a lot of bodies in the box and as the ball has come in I have had to jump with the keeper and I managed to get something on it.

“It might have been a foul, I don’t know. I have jumped in to him. I think Shane Duffy was around doing similar as well (on Ben Gibson). Then Rudy has stuck it in and the referee has given it straightaway. That’s what matters for us.”

Despite going in to the game on the back of two draws, Middlesbrough still played with the sort of confidence expected of a team in with a chance of winning the Championship title.

Blackburn struggled to deal with the home side’s style of play, with the quick tempo and high intensity exactly what Karanka has been trying to introduce to the team since he took over 12 months ago.

Blackburn chased shadows for much of the game and how they were not behind before Bamford’s opener seven minutes from the end was purely down to the goalkeeping skills of Eastwood.

He was only playing – his first appearance since January – because of Jason Steele’s ineligibility due to his loan from Boro, but he proved he can handle the occasion with a stunning display between the posts.

He constantly thwarted efforts at his goal, with Grant Leadbitter, Emilio Nsue and Bamford all frustrated by his performance. Eastwood’s best moment arrived when he somehow dived left to make a stunning one-handed save to deny Jelle Vossen his first goal for Middlesbrough.

Bamford said: “I don’t know who their keeper was but he deserved a medal. He had the game of his life. How he saved Jelle’s header I don’t know. The keeper can be pleased with himself but on another day we could have won comfortably.

“It felt like a loss in the changing room but I don’t know why because we played really well, we absolutely battered them to be fair.

“Emotions were running high and people are annoyed by what happened because we all felt it was a definite foul. But you can’t change it. The main thing after this is that we haven’t lost. We can take heart from our performance.”

Despite being unable to win any of their last three games, Middlesbrough still look a team capable of staying in the promotion mix.

And a record of just one defeat from their last 13 league matches suggests as much – even if Clattenburg did do his best to derail things by stealing the limelight from Juninho.