Leeds continued their unbeaten record at the Riverside, with a 2-1 win thanks to goals from strikers Davide Somma and Luciano Becchio.
Jason Brown made his first start for Leeds whilst Paul Connolly and Sanchez Watt returned to the starting line up.
Leeds started brightly, Howson shot over, Snodgrass had a shot from long range easily saved and McCartney saw his shot deflected for a corner.
The good start was rewarded on twelve minutes when a deflected Watt cross found Somma who steered his left foot shot into the corner of the net.
A special mention must be given to referee Chris Foy who played an excellent advantage to Leeds when Snodgrass was fouled on the edge of the area.
Middlesbrough finally came into the game after 19 minutes when Brown easily saved Boyd`s long-range effort.
The home side started to enjoy more possession, O`Neill and Boyd both failed to hit the target when in a good position.
Bailey was next to have a shot but once again, Brown saved his long-range shot.
Boro`s best chance of the half fell to Boyd, a speculative shot by Kink found the head of Boyd and he headed wide when in a good position.
Leeds were dealt a double blow just after the half hour when firstly McCartney was forced off with an illness and then Sanchez Watt went off injured after a poor tackle on the midfielder by Kink.
Somma had the last chance of the first half but his effort from the edge of the area was easy for Steele in the Boro goal.
Boro had a good chance in the opening minutes of the second half but Boyd headed over after a cross from Kink.
The same two combined to bring the hosts level after 53 minutes, Boyd this time steered his low shot past Brown.
Leeds had a good chance on the hour but Somma`s cut back failed to pick out the waiting teammates in the Boro area.
Leeds were back in the lead a few minutes later, a good strong tackle by Becchio saw the ball break to Johnson, his cross was met sweetly on the volley by Becchio who saw his shot take a deflection off the back of Howson before going in off the inside of the post.
Becchio almost bettered his goal soon after when his shot from the area came back off the inside of the post.
Boyd was carrying the main threat for the hosts and he shot into the side netting after a deflection of a Leeds defender.
From the resulting corner, Brown had to be on hand to tip the ball over the crossbar.
The referee added on five minutes of added time and Leeds played possession football in wounding down the clock to record their second away win of the season.
Teams
Middlesbrough
Steele, Bates, Wheater, McManus, Arca, Bailey, Tavares (Halliday 73), O`Neill, Kink (Lita 66), McDonald, Boyd
Subs not used
Coyne, Smallwood, Bennett, Miller, McMahon
Brown, Connolly, Naylor, Collins, McCartney (Hughes 33), Snodgrass, Howson, Faye (Bromby 85), Watt (Johnson 38), Becchio, Somma
Subs not used
Alnwick, Gradel, Kilkenny, McCormack,
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