Last updated on .From the section Championship

Mo Besic swept Middlesbrough into the lead in the 12th minute

Middlesbrough swept aside Ipswich with two early goals to leave Paul Hurst still searching for his first win as Town manager.

Victory for Boro moved them to second in the Championship, level on points with leaders Leeds, while a first home defeat of the season left Ipswich without a victory in their opening 11 matches.

Mo Besic put Boro ahead when he was allowed the freedom to run from halfway into the Ipswich area before coolly finishing after his initial effort had been blocked.

Boro's lead was then doubled within four minutes when Stewart Downing profited from Luke Chambers giving away possession and allowing the winger time to pick his spot.

Tony Pulis switched to a 4-3-3 system in a bid to deliver more goals for Middlesbrough after successive draws and left leading scorer Britt Assombalonga on the bench.

The Welshman's tactics paid instant dividends as they raced into a 2-0 lead.

Such was their dominance of the chances, Ipswich were fortunate not to fall further behind as Dean Gerken made a smart low save from George Friend's early shot.

Daniel Ayala also saw a header cleared off the line by Cole Skuse in the second half while Jordan Hugill shot narrowly wide when played through by Martin Braithwaite.

A double substitution at the break for the Tractor Boys did help produce more of a threat but Darren Randolph's only test came well into the second half when he saved a low drilled effort from Trevoh Chalobah.

Ipswich's winless start is a record they have only matched once before when they failed to win any of their opening 14 matches in 2009-10 under Roy Keane.

Boro have now lost just once in their past 15 league games.

Ipswich boss Paul Hurst:

"Overall I'm pleased with some of the character shown in the second half but I can't keep saying that.

"It was far too easy and you don't want to give them goals to start with, certainly not against a team with the defensive record that they have, and it made it very difficult for the players.

"The atmosphere changes and it's a very difficult night and that was the message at half-time, you are really going to have to stand up - and in fairness we had a couple of good individual performances."

Middlesbrough manager Tony Pulis:

"It was as good as we have played all season. The big disappointment was that we got sloppy in the second half.

"Ipswich got the ball up the sides in the second half and I knew this was going to be more of a football game with a slick, quick pitch.

"It's the third game on the bounce away and that's tough, the way they worked I thought we looked a little bit tired."