Blackburn Rovers 2-1 Middlesbrough
by James Nalton 
at Ewood Park

ONE team widely tipped to be challenging for promotion, and another expected by many to struggle against relegation in the 2026/27 EFL Championship: little of the first half as Blackburn welcomed Middlesbrough on Saturday did much to challenge those assumptions.

Jeremy Sarmiento gave Middlesbrough the lead with just 12 minutes played, and it looked as though their quest to return to the Premier League for the first time since 2016/17 would continue with another win to make it two from two at the start of the season.

Boro were cruising in possession, albeit with occasional discomfort. Blackburn looked off the pace, as if they were still playing a pre-season game, but still had some big chances.

There was one notable eye-catching move when Ryoya Morishita, Andri Gudjohnsen and Ryan Alebiosu combined to force a save from Radek Vitek, while Morishita and Kristi Montgomery had good opportunities to level the scores. Luke Ayling had to clear one Morishita effort off the line.

Despite creating the odd moment, manager Tony Mowbray, back for a second stint as Blackburn manager, had his work cut out for him at half time, just as he’s likely to for most of the season.

“What a reaction,” Mowbray said of his team’s second-half performance. “I felt if we could get the equaliser we could break away and really threaten their goal.”

The equaliser came from Gudjohnsen via a corner, and the winner when Todd Cantwell headed in Alebiosu’s cross.

Rovers goalkeeper Balazs Toth played his part, and was close to challenging eventual Man of the Match Tom Atcheson after two close-range saves from Myles Peart-Harris.

“I don’t think we could have picked a tougher first game at home to be honest, they are a really good football team,” added Mowbray. “Aidan Morris has 1,000 touches of the ball, it feels like, and it’s really hard to stop them, but we found a way today.”

Yuki Ohashi and new signing Jayden Fevrier offered some running off the bench for Blackburn to help see the game out.

Ohashi drew one of the biggest cheers of the game when he ran the length of the pitch in added time before drawing a foul from Riley McGree. Those cheers continued to ring around Ewood Park as the final whistle blew.