Middlesbrough went back to the top of the Championship as they delivered a statement victory over pre-season promotion favourites Ipswich Town.

After three games without a win, a Cedric Kipre own goal in first-half injury time and then a first goal in Boro colours for Morgan Whittaker saw them go two points clear of unbeaten Coventry City, who host Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.

Boro have now collected 13 points from a possible 15 at the Riverside under head coach Rob Edwards and this result will maintain the early season optimism that the former Luton Town boss has generated on Teesside since his June arrival.

For Ipswich, it was a first defeat in six games and they were left to rue George Hirst's penalty miss - just three minutes before the opening goal - as his effort was brilliantly saved by Boro goalkeeper Sol Brynn.

Captain Dara O'Shea did halve the deficit with 14 minutes left, but they could not rescue a point as they remain ninth and winless on their travels this season.

Boro's outstanding start of four wins out of four in August had stalled somewhat just before the international break with two draws and a first defeat in a loss at Portsmouth.

The Tractor Boys were starting to find their groove when the action stopped, having had a slow start to the campaign with a memorable win over local rivals Norwich City in their last match the highlight.

Edwards rolled the dice as he made four changes to his starting line-up and Boro would have been in front earlier, but from some outstanding goalkeeping from Alex Palmer, who made four excellent saves in as many minutes.

But that was surpassed at the other end by Brynn, who won the battle with Scotland striker Hirst from 12 yards after Callum Brittain had tugged Leif Davis in the box, making a splendid one-handed save to his right.

The momentum shift from that penalty save was then felt as Boro went ahead when Palmer was beaten by his own defender.

Kipre was unable to sort his feet out in trying to deal with Burgzorg's deflected low ball across the box and watched in horror as it slipped into the net.

If the first goal was unfortunate, the second was a moment of relief and redemption for Whittaker.

Having arrived in a high-profile move from Plymouth Argyle in January, the attacking midfielder had not scored in his first 25 games for Boro and was on the receiving end of criticism from his own supporters last month - which had prompted a strong response from Edwards in supporting his player.

And when Palmer could only push out David Strelec's low cross towards the penalty spot, Whittaker was on hand to thump home the loose ball to end that drought.

The visitors made a quadruple change and were much improved as Republic of Ireland defender O'Shea headed in his first Ipswich goal from Marcelino Nunez's corner.

But they could not find an equaliser and it is now just two points from a possible 12 away from Portman Road, an issue boss Kieran McKenna must fix if they are to move into promotion contention and an immediate top-flight return.

While Boro can enjoy another fine win, they will drop to second if Coventry beat Blackburn at home on Saturday (15:00 BST).

Middlesbrough head coach Rob Edwards told BBC Radio Tees:

"I loved us tonight. The energy, the intensity, the work-rate, the desire to win the ball back, the blocks. I loved that, that side of us was great. We carried a threat and we scored a magnificent second goal.

"I'm really proud of the lads and I feel privileged to be part of this because I think it was a really good game.

"We dropped a few points, one or two questions were asked and we've delivered and answered them. But what we've got to do is be consistent and keep that going."

Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk:

"We made too many mistakes to win the game or have too many complaints.

"The night could have been different. We could have got the first goal on a couple of occasions, the penalty being the biggest one.

"But the bit of the performance I'm most disappointed about is how we managed the most difficult spells of the game. It became too open, too chaotic, we gave up too much.

"To come away to a difficult place against a team in form and a crowd behind them, you can't make as many mistakes as we did. You need to be stronger and show more resilience to keep the ball out of your net."