Soccer
Ugo Raghouber earns Burnley point against Middlesbrough
Ugo Raghouber’s first goal for Burnley earned only their second point from their opening four Championship matches as they came from behind to draw 1-1 with Middlesbrough.
The French midfielder, signed from Lille in July, steered in a 54th-minute equaliser after taking on Zeki Amdouni’s pass and being allowed to run unchallenged.
Aidan Morris had swept Middlesbrough into a 23rd-minute lead, scoring his first goal after more than two years at the club, with a stylish finish from 20 yards after being set up by fellow American Sebastian Berhalter.
For Burnley, the point was a lift after a testing week.
Head coach Nicky Hayen, whose side were beaten 4-1 at Norwich last Saturday, had to rethink his attack after last season’s top scorer Zian Flemming was sold to Ipswich for £20million late on transfer deadline day, and decided to bring in Andreas Hountondji – out on loan for the past season and a half – in for his first Clarets start since November 2024.
Middlesbrough might have gone ahead as early as the third minute when leading scorer Will Lankshear sprinted on to a long pass from goalkeeper Radek Vitek that caught Burnley defender Hjalmar Ekdal ball watching, but could only bundle the ball wide as home stopper Max Weiss closed in on him.
Vitek had to be alert on the quarter-hour mark to push away a 20-yard shot from Dastan Satpayev, the Chelsea loanee making his home debut, who had created the opening after exchanging passes with Amdouni.
But it was Middlesbrough who struck first through Morris, one of four Americans now at the club. The delighted travelling support greeted the goal with the chants of ‘USA, USA’ that have become familiar at their games this season.
The match had a physical edge to it, with Vitek angry after being caught by Satpayev as he chased a back pass, and Lankshear booked for treading on Hannibal Mejbri’s foot.
Morris almost added a second Middlesbrough goal two minutes before half-time following a loose Connor Roberts clearance, striding forward and smashing a shot against Weiss’ left-hand post from 25 yards.
Then Lankshear slipped past Anel Ahmedhodzic after Kyle Joseph flicked Adilson Malanda’s pass into his path, and crossed low for Riley McGree to steer wide on the stretch from six yards.
But Burnley improved after half-time and drew level when Raghouber guided a shot into the corner from just outside the penalty area.
Then the impressive Satpayev ran at Alfie Jones and twisted inside the Middlesbrough centre-back, his sliding shot being stopped by the trailing leg of the wrongfooted Vitek.
Substitute Aaron Ramsey fired just wide with 12 minutes left as Burnley chased a winner, but they had to settle for a point.
