Ugo Raghouber’s first goal for Burnley earned only their second point from their opening four Championship matches as they came from behind to draw 1-1 with Middlesbrough.
The French midfielder, signed from Lille in July, steered in a 54th-minute equaliser after taking on Zeki Amdouni’s pass and being allowed to run unchallenged.
Aidan Morris had swept Middlesbrough into a 23rd-minute lead, scoring his first goal after more than two years at the club, with a stylish finish from 20 yards after being set up by fellow American Sebastian Berhalter.
For Burnley, the point was a lift after a testing week.
Head coach Nicky Hayen, whose side were beaten 4-1 at Norwich last Saturday, had to rethink his attack after last season’s top scorer Zian Flemming was sold to Ipswich for £20million late on transfer deadline day, and decided to bring in Andreas Hountondji – out on loan for the past season and a half – in for his first Clarets start since November 2024.
Middlesbrough might have gone ahead as early as the third minute when leading scorer Will Lankshear sprinted on to a long pass from goalkeeper Radek Vitek that caught Burnley defender Hjalmar Ekdal ball watching, but could only bundle the ball wide as home stopper Max Weiss closed in on him.
Vitek had to be alert on the quarter-hour mark to push away a 20-yard shot from Dastan Satpayev, the Chelsea loanee making his home debut, who had created the opening after exchanging passes with Amdouni.
But it was Middlesbrough who struck first through Morris, one of four Americans now at the club. The delighted travelling support greeted the goal with the chants of ‘USA, USA’ that have become familiar at their games this season.
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Middlesbrough’s Aidan Morris makes it 1-0 in their Championship clash with Burnley.
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Ugo Raghouber levels the score for Burnley in their clash with Middlesbrough.
The match had a physical edge to it, with Vitek angry after being caught by Satpayev as he chased a back pass, and Lankshear booked for treading on Hannibal Mejbri’s foot.
Morris almost added a second Middlesbrough goal two minutes before half-time following a loose Connor Roberts clearance, striding forward and smashing a shot against Weiss’ left-hand post from 25 yards.
Then Lankshear slipped past Anel Ahmedhodzic after Kyle Joseph flicked Adilson Malanda’s pass into his path, and crossed low for Riley McGree to steer wide on the stretch from six yards.
But Burnley improved after half-time and drew level when Raghouber guided a shot into the corner from just outside the penalty area.
Then the impressive Satpayev ran at Alfie Jones and twisted inside the Middlesbrough centre-back, his sliding shot being stopped by the trailing leg of the wrongfooted Vitek.
Substitute Aaron Ramsey fired just wide with 12 minutes left as Burnley chased a winner, but they had to settle for a point.
The managers
Burnley’s Nicky Hayen:
“We started with good intentions in the first 10 minutes. But then they scored the goal and then there was a certain fear in the team.
“We were dropping back. We were not putting pressure in the right way. That’s something we changed in the second half.
“Then you see that we play with a lot more courage and then we felt after that goal with the support of the fans that you can change that game.
“But I have to be fair also, physically we’re not there yet at the moment because we have also new signings who didn’t have a proper pre-season, who didn’t play a lot of friendly games.”
Middlesbrough’s Kim Hellberg:
“We were the better team from my point of view and controlled things, playing good football. We created a lot of chances, especially in the first half, and kept them to very few.
“They had a spell in the second half, maybe 15 minutes, where they were quite strong but didn’t create so many chances.
“But sometimes we were not good enough with the ball, and Burnley got the crowd with them.
“Otherwise, I think it was a very good performance. We would have wanted three points, but we had to settle for one.
“We’re still getting there with a lot of players coming back and we’re building them up, which means we will just get better. But I think this was a big step forward in terms of how we want to look as a football side.
“I think this, in general, was one of our best performances this season in terms of how we looked against very strong opponents.”
What the result means and next fixtures…
