Andraz Sporar's penalty proved to be the difference this afternoon as Middlesbrough earned a 1-0 victory over automatic promotion contenders AFC Bournemouth.

Going into the break with the deadlock yet to be broken, it was a flying run from Isaiah Jones that proved to be crucial as he outpaced Jaidon Anthony before being hauled down by the 22-year-old, giving Chris Kavanagh no choice but to point to the spot.

Slovenian loanee Sporar made no mistake, striking the ball into the left corner and putting the hosts 1-0 up at the Riverside Stadium - and it was a lead they were able to hold on to with Scott Parker's men wasteful in front of goal.

 

 

This latest loss has extended the Cherries' winless run to six games, claiming just three points from a possible 18 during this miserable period and leaving themselves in real danger of falling out of the automatic promotion spots unless they can turn around their fortunes.

Luckily for the south-coast outfit, top-two rivals West Bromwich Albion were unable to go level on points with them yesterday evening as they dropped points against Barnsley.

But regardless of this, this weekend was another poor showing from Bournemouth who had asserted themselves as favourites to go up after previously pulling away from others in the promotion mix along with Fulham.

One positive that can be taken from Teesside is the fact shot-stopper Mark Travers was in top form, perhaps one of the only players that can hold his head high after that performance.

With this in mind, we had a look at how a selection of Cherries fans reacted to his performance on Twitter.