One point from the opening three games was scant reward for Boro so far, but as welcome as the win was against Wigan, it was also fully deserved with Boro taking control once the deadlock was broken.

The visitors had started well and had a great chance inside the opening five minutes when Darren Randolph had to make a great save to deny Jamal Lowe after Adam Clayton got caught in possession inside his own box.

Daniel Ayala also had to block well from Nathan Byrne, who surged forward from the Wigan right. Lowe went close again in the 20th minute when he curled a shot wide after Boro lost the ball on the halfway line.

But it was Boro who took the lead midway through the first half. Jonny Howson was the architect with a good cross from the right and Assombalonga was the man to head the ball beyond the reach of David Marshall.

It was almost two before the half-hour. Assombalonga had a shot blocked and Paddy McNair's follow up whizzed the wrong side of the upright and into the side-netting.

The goal clearly gave Boro confidence and there were two appeals for penalties before half-time. The first came when a ball appeared to be blocked on the line by the hand of a Wigan defender and the second was when Ashley Fletcher was felled inside the area.

Fletcher was first to try his luck in the second half when he went close with a shot on the edge of the box as Boro started brightly and looked for a second goal. The striker also tried his luck with a first time effort from an acute angle after a good ball from Clayton.

As the clock ticked down, Lewis Wing sent a shot wide, Fletcher had another effort blocked after more decent build-up play, and Ayala had a header cleared off the line, but Boro had to be content with just the one goal as a first win of the season was slipped into the pocket.