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There has been a stats spin war over Boro’s goal scoring record in recent weeks with snipers taking aim over the barricades.

Total goals scored, goals per game ratios, shots on and off target, chance conversion rates...

Now I’m about to break cover and dash through No Man’s Land to draw attention back to the other end of the pitch because it is time to celebrate our clean sheet kings.

Boro’s 1-0 Riverside win over QPR (laboured and lucky/patient possession masterclass*) took Aitor Karanka’s watertight side to an impressive defensive landmark: that was the 50th shut-out under the Spaniard. Already.

Yes, 50 clean sheets. From 108 games. That is quite spectacular.

It is the most rigid rearguard since Big Jack Charlton stormed to the Division Two title in 1973/74 with 27 clean sheets in 47 games in all competitions and then became “boring, boring Boro” in the top flight, setting tactical tank traps and defending as a unit by default.

Charlton started from a higher base than Karanka did, with an almost complete team inherited from Stan Anderson that had regularly finished in what would have been the play-off places.

Big Jack racked up his first 50 clean sheets in just 95 games.

In contrast it took Bryan Robson’s side 167 games to match that, and that included a flying start, piles of cash and two promotion campaigns.

Steve McClaren, regarded as overly cautious by many, took 138 games to reach 50 clean sheets, although in mitigation, he started in the Premier League with a team that had stuttered through the past two seasons and needed a total rebuild.

So for Aitor to reach 50 clean sheets so quickly is some achievement.

(Image: PA)

Of course, some people will sneer at that, dismiss it as less impressive or less important than headline grabbing action at the other end of the pitch where they may add Boro are lacking teeth.

But a fearsome, well drilled defence is a crucial component of every successful team. Build from the back has been the mantra of managerial greats throughout history.

Yet the conscious art of defence is much maligned in English football where the back four is almost seen as a necessary evil.

Yes, we love the thud of a crunching tackle or a bruised ribs brave block and every club has legends who do just that.

But rehearsed and tactically disciplined units, teams who put zealous collective effort into defending, a publicly espoused mentality that this is important and desirable is viewed in some quarters as suspicious, cynical and dangerously, well, foreign,

But defending well is the first principle: if the other lot don’t score then they can’t win. Everything else starts from that.

With the back door bolted you can start to work on a formula up front to hurt the opposition.

And if you can defend well and nick a goal then you are almost there.

Boro have won the last 18 games in which they have scored first, a run going back to the 1-1 draw with Blackburn a year ago so the basic strategy seems to be largely working.

Yes there will be slip-ups and set-backs along the way. That’s football.

Boro now very rarely leak more than a single goal. In fact, they have the best record in all four pro divisions at home.

It is 30 games since Boro leaked more than one goal at home, the next best nationally is Scunthorpe with 20 then Hull with 10.

And it is 18 months since a team won at the Riverside by a two goal margin, the bottle top bobble game when QPR took advantage of a lucky break to win 3-1 back in March 2014.

That prowess has underpinned an incredible Riverside record of only losing twice in 2015 and only four times since the start of LAST season.

A risk averse, safety first approach may not be a universally popular but it is effective and has built the platform for success.

Under Aitor Karanka - a Champions League and La Liga winning centre back - defence has been the first priority and Boro now defend collectively from the front, work relentlessly to stifle the opposition and strangle the game before looking to pass and pick their way forward to score.

Boro have two human shields in midfield, the front men track back and tackle and there is a willingness to “take one for the team” and foul tactically if necessary.

And if under pressure - think about the two Manchester matches - everyone will throw themselves in front of an howitzer to put their bodies on the line and stop a shot.

It is fantastic to watch and with Dani Ayala at the heart, the defence are now stacking up superlatives.

Boro kept 23 clean sheets in the league last term - half of all their games - plus another four in cup and play-off games.

And that has carried on this term to hit the half-century barrier.

Well drilled Boro have relentless closed in on that half-century barrier with four clean sheets in the last five games - including away at £200m glamour side Manchester United.

Boro have kept it clean eight times in 17 league games this term - with two more in the League Cup.

And they are especially efficient at home with seven shut outs from 10 league games plus another two in the cup.

Clean sheets are now the norm. That may be a factor in teams coming to “park the bus” - if they don’t think they can score and win, best dig in and try to get a point which is a new problem to resolve.

It is worth casting our minds back to the brittle back line leaking so freely when Karanka took over.

Tony Mowbray’s side was designed to attack, to pass, to get forward and score. Which they did.

But they were also predictably porous, with attacks breaking down and the opposition landing killer blows through the space vacated, either through the middle or with quick diagonals into the gap where the full back should have been.

In Mogga’s final ill-fated season Boro kept just one clean sheet in 13 games, leaked a flood of 23 goals and made a costly habit of squandering hard-earned commanding leads; At Forest. At Wigan. At home to Bournemouth after battling back from two down after 12 minutes.

Even Accrington came to the Riverside and scored two.

Mogga’s side kept just two clean sheets in his last 20 games and that ultimately cost him his job.

The transformation has been incredible. And it hasn’t been by accident.

After a sticky start Karanka quickly got to grips with the problem, reorganising and plugging the leaks aided by the telekinetic powers of on-loan shot-stopper Shay Given.

Those who didn’t buy into the system or couldn’t adapt their game to suit it were shipped out as he reshaped the team.

And it led initially to a marked reduction in firepower and no doubt we all remember the purgatory of the seven game goal drought - but even in that run Boro kept four clean sheets and twice more only leaked one. It was part of the growing pains.

That process has continued apace and Boro’s miserly back line is now regarded by pundits and rival bosses as a key factor in the tactical battle.

They have helped Boro into the mix and with just a small increase of productivity in front of goal Boro could be flying.

But the foundations are in place now and the teeth can be sharpened.

And, remember, they are the third highest scorers in the Championship so it is just a tweak needed rather than surgery.

If the defence can keep it clean we don’t need to up the firepower by much.