The club had not found the back of the net since 31 January (509 minutes), but Rudy Gestede ended that run against Man United at the Riverside in a 3-1 defeat.
Gestede’s strike with the club 2-0 down initially gave fans hope of securing a draw, but a horror show from Victor Valdes gifted Antonio Valencia and United a third in the closing stages of the game following earlier goals from Marouane Fellaini and Jesse Lingard.
Marcus Rashford will feel he should have scored at least twice in the first half, as the England striker repeatedly got the better of Bernardo and only the class of Valdes kept him at bay.
The goalkeeper may have had a howler at the end, but he was on form in the early part of the match and made a fantastic double save to keep out Rashford and Valencia before eventually being beaten on the half hour mark when Fellaini rose to head in Ashley Young’s cross.
Boro did have the ball inside the United penalty area on a few occasions and David De Gea was forced to make a decent save from Gaston Ramirez.
Those signs were encouraging, but then they faded in the second half as United took control, so it was no great surprise when they doubled their lead thanks to a 20-yard rocket from Lingard.
Incredibly, the 24-year-old picked the ball up in his own half and ran unopposed through a big hole in the Boro midfield before shooting.
Gestede’s goal with 13 minutes remaining offered hope, but for all their effort, Boro could not get over the line. They didn’t have enough in them and then Valdes’ slip allowed Valencia to walk the ball over the line in stoppage time.
That’s 600 Premier League wins for United now and with that they leapfrogged Arsenal into fifth place.
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