City, who arrived back in Manchester
on Friday evening following a training
break in Abu Dhabi, appeared jaded as
their performance unravelled.

Frank Lampard came off the bench to
strike the post after 89 minutes but
back-to-back, scoreless home defeats
means manager Manuel Pellegrini and
his players head into next weekends
pivotal clash at Bamford’s parent club
with a season to salvage.

The visitors made a confident and
stylish start, though they were almost
undone in the fifth minute when Stevan
Jovetic was inches away from
converting Aleksandar Kolarov’s
cross.

Middlesbrough had the ball in the net
after 19 minutes – Lee Tomlin heading
home after Willy Caballero kept out
Bamford’s flick – but the latter was
penalised for offside.

Sergio Aguero’s first sight of goal
arrived five minutes later as his
skipped around Ben Gibson to drill
into the side netting.