Middlesbrough went top of the Championship after a comfortable 2-0 win over Doncaster at The Riverside.
Tuncay and Lita on target
Middlesbrough went top of the Championship after a comfortable 2-0 win over Doncaster at The Riverside.
A fourth consecutive clean sheet for Boro saw them secure a win with goals from Tuncay Sanli and Leroy Lita, which means they are now enjoying their best start to a season for 15 years.
The home side started by far the brighter and Adam Johnson nearly had his fourth goal in three matches but Neil Sullivan in the Doncaster net did well to save his long-range effort.
There was then a collision between Emnes and Sullivan which earned the goalkeeper a booking and saw the striker carried off on a stretcher with a head injury and replaced by Tuncay.
But with his first touch, the Turk fired Boro into the lead as he latched onto a header from Lita and slotted home.
Tuncay then came close to returning the favour to his strike partner as he exchanged passes with Johnson and tried to find Lita but his pass went behind the former Reading man, who would have had a tap-in from six yards.
Doncaster were struggling to get a grip on the game and it was 29 minutes before they had their first genuine effort as Wilson unleashed a 25-yard effort which went wide.
In the 38th minute Tuncay thought he had a second when he finished off a flowing move involving Johnson, Mark Yeates and Jonathan Grounds but the linesman's flag was raised.
The second half began at a sedate pace but Arca had clearly built up a head of steam as he clattered into Dean Shiels to earn himself a yellow card.
Brian Stock then brought a save from Danny Coyne as he hammered an effort from 30 yards but the goalkeeper was well behind it.
And moments later it was 2-0 as Tony McMahon supplied a ball which Lita controlled beautifully before hammering home high into the net.
The striker got a booking for taking his shirt off during a wild celebration but he did not seem too concerned after scoring his first goal since moving to the Riverside.
Doncaster boss Sean O'Driscoll brought on John Spicer and Quinton Fortune as he looked for some spark in midfield but it proved ineffectual as Boro easily saw out the closing stages.
