Boro sink the Vikings

Goole defied their position at the foot of the table with a lively performance, but Boro had the workrate and the quality to make sure of their success.

Boro shuffled the pack for the trip, with Jamie Price, Nathan Valentine and Josh Snowden all coming into the side.

This did little to affect Boro's flow, as it took them just a handful of minutes to grab the lead.

Max Wright latched onto a long ball from Tommy Taylor, he jinked one way and then another, before firing low into the bottom corner.

It could have been two 10 minutes later, with James Walshaw dancing gleefully through the Goole tackles, but his shot was just the wrong side of the post.

The pressure continued throughout the opening period, with Boro setting up camp in the Goole half, but they failed to add to their tally.

The chances were created though, with Bailey Gooda heading just wide and Jamie Price seeing his shot blocked when it looked bound for the bottom corner.

Things erupted just before the interval with the experienced Derry Robson going through the back of Boro's Luke Dean and then throwing Walshaw to the ground in the aftermath.

He was awarded a yellow card for this and Robson was almost punished further, but Walshaw's free-kick clattered against the bar and was cleared.

Goole made a few threatening murmurings when the second half got underway, with former Boro men Nathan Curtis and Emile Sinclair attempting to stamp their authority on things.

Normal service was soon resumed though and Valentine was unlucky not to double the advantage.

After Wright had slugged his way into the box, Valentine managed to direct an acrobatic scorpion kick against the bar and the ball was cleared before Walshaw could react.

As is often the case, if you don't take your chances, it comes back to bite you. And as is more often the case, if you let a striker leave, they score against you.

On the hour both of these came true, with Curtis taking advantage of some slack defending and rolling past a stranded Tommy Taylor.

Boro tried to react immediately, with Walshaw glancing a Michael Coulson corner onto the bottom of the post and wide.

The Boro bench threw on Jimmy Beadle to try and up their attacking threat and within minutes it paid dividend.

Some hustling and busting from Beadle led to the ball falling for Valentine on the edge of the box and the midfielder let go with a screamer that ripped into the net.

And the job was done with five minutes remaining when the raiding Coulson was tripped inside the box with the trigger cocked.

Boro's top scorer brushed himself down and in usual form sent the keeper the wrong way.

That was enough for Boro as they coasted through the final minutes to claim another vital three-point haul.