Middlesbrough 1-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers: Will Lankshear scores again as Boro celebrate 150th anniversary game with a win

This is Boro's 150th season since the club was founded to enable the cricketers from Middlesbrough Cricket Club to play an alternative sport in the winter months, and the game with Wolves was selected as the official anniversary fixture.

A sold-out crowd helped mark the occasion, six days after a host of former players returned to the Riverside for a Legacy Game, and Lankshear's header from Tommy Conway's cross ensured the home fans went home happy.

The win enabled Middlesbrough to climb above West Ham into second position in the Sky Bet Championship table, just two points behind leaders Swansea.

Wolves were second best for most of the afternoon as they suffered a second league defeat since their relegation last season.

Prior to the game, Boro's fans in the South Stand unfurled a huge mural paying tribute to the club's founding players, and the current generation seemed to be inspired by the celebratory mood as they made a bright start.

Lankshear curled an early free-kick over the top before forcing Jose Sa into a smart save down to his left as he fired in an angled strike from the left of the penalty area.

Marshall Munetsi headed Rodrigo Gomes' cross well wide as Wolves made a rare foray into the Boro box, but with the home side asking most of the questions, Sebastian Berhalter dragged a long-range shot wide.

Berhalter was involved again shortly afterwards, swinging in a cross that Adilson Malanda headed straight at Sa, but the first half ended with Boro goalkeeper Radek Vitek making his first save of the afternoon as he parried away Munetsi's 25-yard strike.

The Teessiders reasserted themselves at the start of the second period, though, and claimed a deserved lead three minutes before the hour mark.

Conway did superbly to create sufficient space on the left-hand side to stand up a cross to the back post, and having peeled behind Hugo Bueno, Lankshear outjumped the Wolves full-back to powerfully head home his seventh league goal of the season.

Boro almost doubled their lead 10 minutes later, but while Aidan Morris slipped a perfect slide-rule pass into the path of Berhalter, his fellow American could only direct his shot straight at Sa.

The home side came close again with two minutes left, but while substitute Kyle Joseph thumped a header against the underside of the crossbar, the ball stayed out.

"It feels like a good win against a very good side, one of the favourites to win the division. Over 90 minutes, I thought it was a fair result.

"I think we were the better team, and I thought before the goal we were absolutely brilliant in everything, except maybe we could have got some more chances from the quality we had.

"Transitions, playing through them, playing high, winning balls, it was absolutely brilliant. I can't really remember a chance they had.

"Then, after the goal, we showed as good as you can ever do when you are 1-0 up - defending while still having some transitions. You always want to kill the game off, but that is never easy. We defended really well."

"We knew it was going to be difficult. Middlesbrough have a good team. In the first half Middlesbrough had more of the ball and we were focused on our defensive organisation.

"They didn't create a lot of clear chances to score.

"At half-time, I talked with the players and told them to manage things better and take time with the ball. We had a strong reaction after Middlesbrough scored. Only a big team with a lot of soul and a lot of quality would react in the way we reacted.

"We didn't take the best decision with our final pass or cross, and we didn't quite get enough players into the box to fight to be able to score. But we could still have scored one goal and drawn the game.

"It is a defeat - I'm not happy with the result, but I am happy with the reaction of the team after they went behind. We reacted and competed to the end, and if we do that, we are going to win more games than we lose, that's for sure."

What the result means and next fixtures...