Middlesbrough survived a nervy second half to earn a goalless draw against Stoke that extended their unbeaten start to life at the top of the Championship.
Having failed to register a shot on target in the first half, second-placed Stoke created numerous opportunities after the restart to threaten an away win.
But Boro stayed cool to preserve a point and remain four points clear without losing any of Rob Edwards’ opening eight matches in charge.
Stoke, despite winning only one of their previous four matches, wanted to stay in touch with the leaders and boss Mark Robins’ approach was to make five changes at the Riverside.
And Stoke were still in the game at half-time having survived the best chances of the opening period when goalkeeper Viktor Johansson made a couple of strong saves.
The first, moments after George Edmundson was forced off through injury, was when Hayden Hackney was allowed to run deep inside the visitors’ half. His low effort from distance was turned away by Johansson.
Shortly afterwards, the Swedish goalkeeper dived to his right to palm away a curling effort from striker David Strelec that was destined for the far corner.
There was anger in the stands just after the half-hour mark when Tommy Conway was booked by referee David Webb for simulation. Conway was not happy with the decision, having gone to ground in the penalty area after cutting inside Ben Pearson, who stuck out a leg, and the home ranks felt there was contact.
Robins felt something needed to change and Million Manhoef and Tomas Rigo were both introduced for the second half.
Within minutes of those changes, goalkeeper Sol Brynn had to be alert to save two efforts from Sorba Thomas; the first of those was turned away one-handed before it found the top corner.
Sandwiched between those, Aidan Morris should have done better than fire over the crossbar with a side-foot effort for the hosts after Hackney had picked him out in the box.
Stoke kept pushing, so Edwards mixed things up in attack. Striker Kaly Sene, who scored in his last two games after coming off the bench, and lively winger Sontje Hansen were brought on.
There was another good chance at the opposite end when Robert Bozenik’s last contribution before he was substituted was to fire wide from a fantastic cross from Bosun Lawal in the centre of the box.
Brynn was equal to an even better one with 10 minutes remaining. This time he denied Rigo from 10 yards when the lively midfielder ought to have scored.
Johansson was still needed late on to make a stunning save to tip another Hansen drive over for a corner and after that, aside from another Brynn save from Divin Mubama, there was no other threat to either side’s goal.
The managers
Middlesbrough’s Rob Edwards:
“We take the point. I thought the first half we were excellent, played with intensity, and then the penalty that never was. That was frustrating.
“Clearly second half we were not at our best, so we made sure we didn’t lose it. We looked a little jaded, turned the ball over too many times, and we got a bit stretched and I didn’t like the feel of that.
“I still thought we could have a moment, once we didn’t get up at half-time, but I do believe we should have had a penalty and also we should have found a way in the first half with the momentum we had.
“Credit to Stoke, they made some adjustments, they are a good team, Mark (Robins) is a good manager, and we will take it in the end. We will go forward to the next one.”
Stoke’s Mark Robins:
“Once we went in 0-0 it was a relief and we put some things right in the second half. This is a good point against a side that has been flying here.
“We had an excellent second half. First half we were off it. What we did in the second half was much better than the first because we were organised and people knew their jobs.
“These are a good team, tactically a good team, a change of manager, different players, but they have a lot of confidence after the start they have made.
“I thought there was only going to be one winner after half-time, where we probably had the better of the chances.”