BURTON 1 MIDDLESBROUGH 2 (AET)

CHRISTIAN Stuani’s extra-time goal saw Middlesbrough bounce back from Saturday’s Championship defeat at home to Bristol City by booking their place in the third round of the Capital One Cup at Burton Albion’s expense.

Former Boro striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s Brewers started enthusiastically, and went in at half-time ahead after George Friend turned the ball into his own net.

However Stuani had other ideas and he levelled the tie on 70 minutes before popping up in extra-time to send Boro into the hat for the third round.

Boro were fortunate to be punished only with a corner when Tomáš Kalas was dispossessed on the edge of his own box in the second minute.

Burton skipper Shane Cansdell-Sherriff met the low delivery from the left with a clever flick, but his effort was held comfortably by understudy Tomás Mejías, who returned for the second round of the Capital One Cup, having played in the 3-1 win at Oldham a fortnight ago.

Boro’s first chance of note came when Adam Reach left Tom Naylor trailing in his wake along the left byline in the 17th minute to cross to the far post. Stuani got firm contact on the ball, but his downward header was easily held by Remi Matthews in the Brewers’ goal.

The summer signing from Espanyol found himself in the referee’s’ book three minutes later, after going to ground optimistically as he and Matthews competed to reach the ball first in the box.

Jonathan Woodgate took the captain’s armband from Grant Leadbitter for the night, but the veteran’s lack of match practice showed in the early stages, notably when he brought down Joachim mid-way inside the Boro half with a trailing leg.

And it was from the resulting free-kick that the hosts fortuitously took their 24th minute lead. Matthew Palmer’s right-footed ball into the box deflected off a head, before ricocheting against Friend and trickling past a helpless Mejías.

The visitors upped the tempo from there, with a typically industrious Leadbitter at the heart of most of the better play.

It was Leadbitter’s ball from the left which was headed just wide by Adam Forshaw in the 36th minute, after a timely arrival into the box from the former Wigan man.

Boro went close again shortly before the half, but again, Stuani was unable to find the finishing touch, this time scuffing his shot wide after a crisp pull-back from Kike.

Diego Fabbrini was introduced at the interval, coming on in place of Southampton loanee Jack Stephens, and the change from Aitor Karanka came as little surprise after a first-half display lacking in urgency.

But Boro had to withstand some early pressure after the break, with the hosts making a spirited start to the second half. Joachim again got a shot on target, this time an ambitious, looping volley on the turn from outside the box, before a pair of corners which ended with Cansdell-Sherriff volleying into the arms of Mejías.

Clear chances remained few and far between, but when one came 20 minutes from the end of normal time, it fell to the previously wasteful Stuani. This time, though, the Uruguayan made it count, sliding onto Kalas’s low cross to add to the brace he bagged in the previous round at Oldham.

The remainder of normal time was largely one-way traffic. Stuani forcing a fine save from Matthews, who had to use his feet to deny the forward a second seven minutes after his equaliser, while substitutes Downing and Fabbrini continued to threaten with their own efforts.

The first period of extra-time continued in the same vein, with Hasselbaink’s men looking increasingly fatigued. Boro survived a scare early in the second additional period, when Friend was forced to clear Timmy Thiele’s centre from the goal mouth, but with each defiant push forward from the hosts, space opened up going the other way.

And with 100 minutes on the clock, Downing combined with Stuani to make those open spaces count, driving down the right, and centring for the new boy to slot the ball into the bottom corner.