Britt special’s big spoiler for old Boro boss

Assombalonga’s strike was only their fifth in the last eight home matches.

And they have only one win in their last seven league games at the Riverside.

There were 22 minutes gone when Rovers’ Bradley Dack caught Besic in possession and spun off towards the Middlesbrough goal.

Besic tugged him back and was shown a straight red, leaving Pulis fuming.

He said: “The referee does not send him off, the assistant ref and the fourth official did. It is a yellow card, not a sending-off. How they make that decision is beyond me.

“You have to be 100 per cent sure it is clearcut, denying a goalscoring opportunity.”

There was a double punishment as Charlie Mulgrew stepped up to take the free-kick over 30 yards from goal.

The Scot took advantage of a badly lined-up Boro wall – and keeper Darren Randolph’s confidence dip – to curl in a beauty.

Pulis introduced