MIDDLESBROUGH finally remembered how to win at the Riverside and set up a summit scrap at Southampton next week.

The Teessiders saw off fellow high-fliers Derby with a 2-0 win that took them back up to second spot.

They dominated the first half and went ahead just before the break through Rhys Williams and doubled their advantage soon after the restart as Marvin Emnes headed home.

But Boro had to dig in for a frantic finale in which Derby hit the woodwork four times and keeper Jason Steele made a string of superb saves.

The welcome win, which ended a run of four successive draws at home, clawed Boro back to within three points of Saints who they visit on Saturday.

“It was important we got that win, ” said Mowbray, whose side responded in style to losing their first game of the season away at Nottingham Forest midweek.

“It keeps us ticking over. After Forest if we had lost against Derby people who have started asking questions about the character of the squad.

“And it was so long since we won at home that I worried maybe that we had forgotten how to do it.

“So it was doubly important because we had to show we could bounce back from that first set-back but also we had to start winning games at home. It has been very frustrating for us in recent weeks with all the draws.

“And we made it hard work for ourselves again. We played well, got the goals and looked comfortable for 70 minutes then shot ourselves in the foot, dropped deep and invited pressure.

“It was a tense final 20 minutes and I think Derby hit the woodwork four times and Jason had to make a few very good saves.

“So it wasn’t a great performance but we’ll take the win. We played far better as a team against both Ipswich and Leicester but only got one point in those games but that’s football.” The win settled nerves on Teesside. The home crowd had been getting tetchy after taking just four points from 12 at the Riverside.