Middlesbrough are heading for a fourth-place finish in the Championship after playing out a goalless first half with Brighton & Hove Albion at the Riverside Stadium.

Brighton had a couple of early efforts through Gordon Greer and Beram Kayal, but neither was able to find the target inside the first 10 minutes.

Albert Adomah forced Brighton keeper Christian Walton into a save after cutting inside on 16 minutes, before Lee Tomlin saw a shot blocked on the edge of the box.

A neat exchange between Kike and Dwight Tiendalli saw a chance fall to Adomah on the half-hour mark, but his close-range effort was deflected wide for a corner.

Amorebieta should have done better when he tried to square for Kike for a tap-in, but the former Fulham defender's pass was too heavy and the chance went begging for the home side.