Blues boss Paul Jewell felt his side had the best chances in their entertaining 0-0 draw at Middlesbrough. The Town manager was pleased with the point against one of the division’s pacesetters.

Jewell said: “I thought we had the better opportunities, if I’m being honest. Certainly in the first half we had two gilt-edged ones - Sonko’s header and Chopra’s volley.

“We were a little bit disappointed to go in 0-0 at half-time. We knew they’d come at us a little bit in the second half and I think there were two teams trying to win a match. How it stayed 0-0 I don’t quite know.”

The Liverpudlian thought his players continued the good work from the 3-0 victory over Coventry earlier in the week: “We tried to take confidence from the performance on Monday, we want to pass the ball, and we did pass the ball, and we moved it, but at times we just didn’t pick the right pass.

“Certainly in the second half, we had opportunities to have a shot and we were trying to walk the ball in a little bit.

“But to come to Middlesbrough, who could have gone top of the league today, and push them all the way, is a good performance.”

Jewell was pleased with recent Boro target Jason Scotland’s performance alongside Michael Chopra up front: “I thought Jason was terrific. He held the ball up and it’s so important if you’re going to play that way that the front two players have got to look after the ball.

“We’ve created good situations, good chances in the first half and certainly situations in the second half, but we probably didn’t make the keeper work hard enough.”

The Trinidadian made way before the end with a knock, but his manager doesn’t expect it to be a significant problem: “He just got a kick, the lad stamped on him accidentally and hopefully he’ll be OK in the morning.”

Boro boss Tony Mowbray's thoughts on the game didn't differ too much from his Town counterpart's view: “I’m sure Paul came up and said he was frustrated as well. It was a game in which they had some chances and I think the way both teams were set up it was going to a little bit end to end.

“I wanted us to play the way we’ve been playing and not worry too much about them. But with the quality of the likes of Bullard, Andrews and Bowyer, all experienced Premier League players, we couldn’t get enough pressure on them to force the issue.

“They had a bit of possession, they created a few chances and yet I felt late on [we had opportunities].

“The boy Chopra had a great opportunity to win the game for them, whether that was a good save or not, and so did Scott McDonald late on when he hit the sidenetting in the six-yard box.

“It could have gone either way, that’s how I felt it was. They’ll be disappointed not to have scored. We could be sitting here talking about a 1-0 win or a 1-0 loss.

"I’ll take the positives of a clean sheet. That’s three clean sheets on the bounce and that’s not a bad platform to give yourself to try and win football matches.”

Photo: Action Images

bluetown added 20:23 - Sep 24 Listened to radio commentary, good result think the bench could be better Delaney and Ainsley ?
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Garv added 20:31 - Sep 24 Draws against Scunthorpe yes pmason, draws against second in the league is a good result.
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IvorFeeling added 20:35 - Sep 24 pmason - feel sorry for you as it must be a real burden being the lovechild of Mick Mccarthy and Eeyore.
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harlingblue added 20:52 - Sep 24 Great result...at last a formation that suits our players, two clean sheets on the bounce. You start 0-0 with a point, with Sonka and Collins looking solid at the back, a top keeper in Stockdale, fullbacks now learning to cover as well as attack, a great platform to safeguard the point. Midfield getting fitter and gelling, plus front two working hard and at last getting descent service...onwards and upwards. Special mention of the work put in by Jason Scotland, both in body and desire...you really look the part now!

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itfc94 added 21:19 - Sep 24 win your home games, drew your away games! top work!
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broomfield123 added 21:20 - Sep 24 Why for the love of god haven't we got a right back. They ran rings around edwards
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ParallelLines added 21:24 - Sep 24 Watched the game online. Town played well but should have put a few chances away. Chopra, Scotland ... however, Leadbetter was disappointing. Every chance he had to supply the final ball he fluffed it totally. Like Jewell said why not have a shot instead of trying to walk it in. 2 points dropped as far as I could see. However, he very good performance just the final pass missing.

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broomfield123 added 21:30 - Sep 24 Also if stockdale goes back to fulham and no decent right back it'll be back to square 1 again
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Keaneish added 21:49 - Sep 24 Lovetown, pmason, broomfield..ssshh you fools. On another note, playing this new diamond formation i'd like to see Edwards stay at right back. He might not be the best defender but he's great at getting forward and delivering so i'd be happy to see him and cressie remain in these attacking full back roles. Liking the positivity of the new approach. Good times ahead and looking forward to Upton Park Tuesday.

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broomfield123 added 22:10 - Sep 24 Can see us getting well beaten on tuesday
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MickMillsTash added 22:26 - Sep 24 Did not go- sounds like a good performance. Have to say having watched the game vs Coventry I thought our midfield would struggle to offer enough protection to the defence. Big plus Sonko played today- 2 more tough games to come but have to say i feel a lot more optimisistic than I did this time last week. Come on - lets have a good season - please
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TractorBeezer added 22:53 - Sep 24 I agree with PJ's comments. We are now really looking like a team that can defend, play football and make chances. In fact we had at least five good goal scoring opportunities but to be fair they weren't that easy and on another day at least a couple of them would have scored. Surely Stockdale helps the overall confidence level and he seemd to be coomunicationg well. Collins and Sonko looked really strong at the back and Jimmy made sure that there were always passing options. Chops and Scotland worked hard and I am confident that the goals will come. I also thought that the referee, Mathieson was excellent. He generally let play flow, didn't get conned by falling players, he was not card happy and controlled the game without resorting to an overly officious attitude. Roll on Tuesday!

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DurhamTownFan added 23:03 - Sep 24 Nice to see the team looking settled. Sonko won almost every ball, and the confidence was shown by everyone wanting the ball in midfield. At times it looked congested, and i think Edwards and creswell need to be told not to overdo it so much. Feeling confident though-here's hoping we stay confident in the next few tricky games!
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ClassyCranson added 23:10 - Sep 24 Sonko and Collins have made a massive difference. I am feeling positive, if we can keep the team together and perhaps get one or two more in I think we will have a very good season. Chops will start scoring again soon, hopefully starting on Tuesday.
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DurhamTownFan added 23:22 - Sep 24 As an afterthought-surely jewell would make Andrews captain if we owned him? Noticed that all the team orders were passed to him during the game, not leadbitter, and Andrews did far more defensive organisation at set pieces. Pity we don't own him!
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marcus139 added 23:28 - Sep 24 I have now concluded that some people would still moan if we beat barcelona. Pmason, lose some weight and get out son.... Honestly, this is a great result and shows we are making progress. And we are playing good football for first time since joe r.
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marcus139 added 23:32 - Sep 24 Broomfield123 would you like to discuss your issues with a councillor?
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bobble added 00:16 - Sep 25 the all blacks are looking very menacing at the moment still the wallabies could pull it off
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tomisamos added 02:37 - Sep 25 Not sure about that Bobble! pmason - boring.
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arablue added 05:02 - Sep 25 A very good result. Hope we could have some continuity with the first XI...just so important for the players to gel, even classy players like bullard, Andrews and bowyer..
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arablue added 05:09 - Sep 25 Bobble, Not so sure about wallabies mate, with so many injured backs...blacks look good but likely to choke..
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bobble added 06:54 - Sep 25 my double of a wallabies world cup win and town championship win is still on but my fingernails will be on the carpet.
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 06:56 - Sep 25 Great result! The only negative thing was Ipswich Player was offline for a while at the start of the match. As regards Chopra, he's probably a bit stale, having had nothing to work with until the last two matches. I think he was getting a bit disillusioned, quite honestly . Chopra is a class finisher. You don't lose that, and if the team continues like yesterday, he too will soon be finding the back of the net again. In fact, I have him down to score at Wet Sham.

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broomfield123 added 07:01 - Sep 25 I remember people moaning about bowyer , ingi and the over 30s . All the do goodies lot are singing their praises. You lot moan about pmason and others but least they aren't hypocrites. Give it a few weeks and we have started under achieving again
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DiamondGezzer added 07:56 - Sep 25 Victorywillhappen :- Victorian Music Hall song :- Oh what a mouth what a north and south, Blimey what a mouth he's got ! etc, Very good result, all down to hard work. Well done the lads, Pj, and all at ITFC.
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