Championship big-spenders Middlesbrough have so far been held goalless by a dogged MK Dons at the Riverside.

Boro had the best of the early exchanges, and Adam Reach forced Dons stopper David Martin into a fine save after a quarter of an hour.

The North-East side had the better of the first half, but created little in the way of clear-cut chances, and were reduced to efforts from range.

Karl Robinson's men finally forced an opening 10 minutes before half time. Dean Bowditch broke to feed Samir Carruthers, but the midfielder shot straight at Dimi Konstantopoulos.

Boro, with top scorer Kike watching from the bench, continued to press, but failed to find the clinical touch required to break down a resolute Dons defence.