Confidence crisis pegs back bid for return to Premier; The big match lowdown: Riverside Stadium, Boro 0, Leicester 1 Tuesday, September 29 Attendance: 18,577.

Byline: ERIC PAYLOR

A CRISIS of confidence threatens to derail Boro's promotion express.

The self doubts were there from the start as Boro failed to produce any spark in a mind-numbing first half.

After finally grasping the nettle in the last 20 minutes they went on to bombard the Leicester goal.

Arguably they deserved much better than to come away with nothing and should have won the game 3-1, or maybe 3-2, on chances created.

But Boro were foiled by their own failures in front of goal and some brilliant goal-line saves from Leicester keeper Chris Weale.

In the end, Boro paid a high price for their tentative start, when they were caught napping at the back and Alex Dyer hammered home his smash and grab late winner.

The fact that Boro's fellow promotion chasers West Brom and Preston also lost last night, was a second successive missed opportunity.

Boro still remain fourth in the table, but one point from three games is creating a new pressure.

If Boro don't win at Reading on Saturday, then it will be a long fortnight for everybody at the Riverside.

Despite the self doubts, Boro were still committed in much of their work last night, tackling strongly and getting through plenty of running.

But decision making was poor, nobody was prepared to take risks, and as a result they lacked creativity.

The fans' gloom was not lifted until the 71st minute when a scything run from Jeremie Aliadiere sparked Boro into gear.

The Frenchman was hacked down, cynically, just outside the box by Matt Oakley, which brought the Leicester man a yellow card.

It was scant consolation for Boro when Adam Johnson's free-kick flew narrowly wide of the target.

However the incident lifted the fans and gave Boro a dramatic injection of adrenaline. Within minutes they were unfortunate not to go ahead when Sean St Ledger bulleted a header against the body of Weale.

As Boro increased the tempo, they suddenly looked likely winners.

Yet it was Leicester who showed them the way to goal in a 60 seconds spell in which Boro were cut to shreds.

First a powerful free-kick from Oakley rebounded off Brad Jones' chest and Jack Hobbs hammered the rebound against the right hand post.

The near miss temporarily unnerved Boro as Leicester were given the freedom of the Riverside to take the lead in the 83rd minute.

Boro were caught napping from a throw-in and when Martyn Waghorn released Oakley, the midfielder had lots of options in front of goal.

The best one was to set up the unmarked Dyer, which he did, and the Leicester winger did the rest.

Still Boro should not have lost. Weale produced the game's best save four minutes later when somehow keeping out a close range header from Mark Yeates following a Johnson cross.

Then, well into injury time, a long ball fell perfectly for David Wheater, whose strong volley was deflected behind.

That's two consecutive games in which Boro have deserved to win, but haven't managed to do so - and that's got to be worry.

Defensively they tightened up considerably and, the mad minute apart, but never otherwise threatened.

Joe Bennett was very assured and impressive on his home debut, though the best player for me was Rhys Williams, who got through a tremendous amount of work in front of his back four and rarely wasted a ball.

Gary O'Neil was neat and tidy, Julio Arca worked very hard but was caught in possession a few occasions, while Johnson was a threat but tried to do too much at times after seeing things break down elsewhere.

Up front Boro possessed little goal threat until the final 20 minutes.

In the end Boro paid the price for their early uncertainty. You wonder why they were not better motivated at the kick-off because this game was there for the taking.

Leicester were workmanlike, and a typical Championship side.

If Boro fail to get themselves back on track, and become typical Championship themselves, then the promotion push will be in jeopardy.

VERDICT BORO shot themselves in the foot by producing such an insipid opening 70 minutes spell, which left the whole stadium frustrated. When Boro finally clicked into gear they did more than enough to win all three points - but failings in front of goal proved costly.

THE KEY MOMENTS 71 mins: Jeremie Aliadiere went on a terrific weaving run before being cynically hacked down by Matt Oakley just outside the area. Adam Johnson's free-kick went just wide of the target. 77 mins: A cross from Mark Yeates was met with a powerful header from Sean St Ledger but goalkeeper Chris Weale made a brilliant save on his line.

83 mins: Matt Oakley powered in a free-kick from the left which rebounded off Brad Jones' chest, and the loose ball was slammed against the right-hand post by Jack Hobbs.

83 mins: Boro were caught napping from a throw-in and when Martyn Waghorn prodded the ball forward, Oakley was left with lots of options before laying the ball off for Alex Dyer to pick his spot.

87 mins: Johnson sent over a deep cross from the right which was met by a diving header by Yeates just a few feet from the line. Somehow Weale managed to keep the ball out.

95 mins: David Wheater pushed forward and won an aerial challenge. The ball dropped perfectly for him to volley it goalwards, but his last gasp shot was deflected wide by Wayne Brown.

OPPOSITION VIEW LEICESTER boss Nigel Pearson praised his side's resilience as they stuck at their task and went home with all three points.

The former Boro skipper said: "We are delighted to get our first win on the road.

"Maybe we rode our luck at times, particularly towards the end of the game, but it was a battling performance from my players.

"It was important that we bounced back from Saturday when we lost our home record which stretched back over a year.

"We have played better and not got anything this season.

"But I was pleased with the spirit and the commitment.

"Obviously Middlesbrough will be disappointed but it just shows how unpredictable this league is.

"Hopefully we can build on this win and get our selves involved in the promotion shake-up."

CAPTION(S):

NO WAY THROUGH: Jeremie Aliadiere goes flying in against Leicester last night