MIDDLESBROUGH have hit fourth spot in the Premiership after their best start to a season since 1999.
However, it needed Tuncay to spare the blushes of wasteful Middlesbrough with a late winner to finally see off 10-man Stoke.
The Turkey international fired home an 85th-minute clincher just as it looked as though the visitors, who had midfielder A
mdy Faye sent off 10 minutes before the break, had staged a magnificent fightback.
On a dramatic afternoon at the Riverside Stadium, £12.7million striker Afonso Alves had made the most of Faye's wild challenge on Mohamed Shawky by firing the resulting free-kick past Thomas Sorensen, and
England international Stewart Downing should have wrapped up the win with a 64th-minute penalty but hit the bar.
On another day, Alves might have claimed a hat-trick, and his strike partner Tuncay was also guilty of a bad miss as Gareth Southgate's side recovered from an indifferent start to dominate for long periods.
However, they could not kill the Potters off and when Justin Hoyte turned Liam Lawrence's cross into his own net with 19 minutes remaining, the visitors looked to have got their reward for a committed display in front of a crowd of 27,627.
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