The Teessiders were within minutes of taking themselves to the brink of safety at derby rivals Sunderland on Saturday when substitute Daryl Murphy snatched a last-gasp winner for the Black Cats.

Southgate's devastated players found themselves cast in the unwelcome role of wallflowers at at party to which they would rather not have been invited as Roy Keane and his players celebrated a successful conclusion to their season's mission.

Boro, however, still need points to ensure their continued presence in the top flight - they are four clear of the 18th-placed Birmingham with two games to play - and that means steeling themselves for home clashes with Portsmouth and Manchester City as an eventful campaign draws to a close.

Southgate said: "It is a time when everybody pulls together because on the back of a derby defeat, it is easy for people to fall out of love with each other.

"That's not going to happen at our club. We are going to be strong to the finish.

"We are absolutely devastated this weekend, but we could be sitting here this time next weekend and we could have already assured our safety. Things can change very quickly in football.

"It is a huge disappointment and the players are incredibly down in that dressing room, but that pain has to galvanise them for the last two games."

Boro could hardly have got off to a better start at the Stadium of Light when record signing Afonso Alves carved the Sunderland defence open for strike-partner Tuncay Sanli to open the scoring with just four minutes gone.

However, Danny Higginbotham levelled within two minutes with a firm header and Michael Chopra piled on the pressure with a second in first-half injury time.

The game looked to be heading for a draw when Alves equalised 17 minutes from time, only for substitute Daryl Murphy to make the most of keeper Brad Jones' indecision in time added on at the end of the game to glance home the winner.

Southgate said: "We got a good start, but you know, especially in derby games, that things fluctuate.

"We weren't able to hold the lead for long enough to give us a steady foothold in the game.

"There were quite a few turning points during the afternoon, similar to the game at our place earlier in the season.

"Ifs and ands and maybes and whats and wherefores - we lost the game, but we will wake up in the morning, we will still be here and we will have to respond in the correct manner."

Australian Jones found himself handed a rare start with both compatriot Mark Schwarzer and Ross Turnbull, who was named among the substitutes, struggling with back injuries.

He suffered a couple of first-half scares when he came for, but missed, high balls, but made an excellent point-blank save from Chopra at 2-1 to keep his side in the game.

But he would not have enjoyed watching replays of Murphy's winner as the striker beat him to Grant Leadbitter's corner to snatch victory.

However, Southgate was quick to apportion any blame to the whole team rather than individuals.

He said: "Whenever you concede goals, you can always point fingers and highlight errors.

"But we win and lose collectively. Mistakes were made all over the field today.

"We said before the game, how we reacted to those mistakes was going to be important.

"We reacted in the right way through most of the game and stayed together and kept to our principles and got the reward with the equaliser.

"What have to learn as a team is to finish games off because that has happened to us too many times now.

"But we will learn those lessons. It is unbelievably painful for everybody involved with the football club at the moment, but you have to go through that pain sometimes."