Middlesbrough won on the opening day for the first time in a decade as Emmanuel Latte Lath continued his blistering form from last season with the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Swansea in the Championship.
Latte Lath scored 17 league goals in his first campaign on Teesside and took just 25 minutes to open his account this term, netting from the spot after Isaiah Jones was fouled inside the box.
The Swans have now lost their last five against Boro and struggled to hurt the hosts at the Riverside, with Luke Williams’ side not managing a single shot on target.
Michael Carrick’s promotion hopefuls were first to threaten inside 10 minutes when goalkeeper Seny Dieng set Jones away with a sublime kicked clearance. Jones beat Swansea goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux in a race to the ball and his ambitious lob from midway inside the opposition half bounced just wide.
Jones was sharp and causing problems. He pounced on a mistake from left-back Josh Tymon but saw his cut-back scrambled clear.
And it was the winger who won the penalty that led to the opener as he was fouled by Azeem Abdulai, with Latte Lath making no mistake from the spot.
The visitors offered very little but were gifted a glorious chance to level late in the first half when summer recruit Aidan Morris played Boro into trouble with a blind pass across goal.
Liam Cullen pounced on the loose ball and touched it into the path of fellow forward Abdulai but Dieng came to the rescue with a brave save.
Dangerman Jones almost extended Boro’s advantage on the stroke of half-time, twisting this way and that inside the box before seeing a close-range shot deflect just over the bar.
Latte Lath almost doubled his and Boro’s tally just before the hour mark when he headed just wide from a Riley McGree corner.
The second period was low-key and although Swansea showed more attacking ambition than the first half they struggled to create clear-cut chances.
They had one 18 minutes from time when they won a free-kick on the edge of the penalty box but Eom Ji-sung failed to hit the target.
Moments later, Boro almost wrapped up the points when Latte Lath teed up Finn Azaz inside the box, with Vigouroux saving well at full stretch.
Latte Lath’s volley then deflected off teammate Matt Clarke and bounced agonisingly wide.
Swansea were denied a last-minute equaliser when Luke Ayling and Rav van den Berg both made goal-saving blocks inside the box, before Jones was set away on the counter for Boro and had a shot cleared off the line.
