Middlesbrough suffered a narrow defeat to Hull City in Saturday’s Championship play-off final.

Former Middlesbrough full-back Ryan Giles backed Kim Hellberg’s side to bounce back from their Wembley heartache after he helped Hull City bring an end to his old club’s Premier League dreams.

The former Luton Town defender had two separate loan stints at the Riverside Stadium in recent seasons - but returned to parent club Hull after the latest last summer. He went on to make 37 appearances for the Tigers and was in their starting eleven for Saturday’s Championship play-off final against Boro - but was sat watching from the sidelines by the time Ollie McBurnie bundled home the only goal of the game deep in second-half injury-time to ensure his side will take their place in the Premier League next season.

Boro boss Hellberg revealed his determination to use the loss as ‘fuel’ for another push for the top flight next season - and Giles believes his old club will be able to bounce back when the new season gets underway in August.

Speaking after the game, he told Sky Sports: “They have done brilliant all year and I’ll always wish them well. I had good times there with really good people - but this is football at the end of the day. There always has to be one winner today and in this case I was always hoping it was going to be us and it was. But they will come back, they are a great club, they’ll come back from this, 100 percent.”

Your next Middlesbrough read: Middlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg makes Hull City admission and has message for Boro fans after play-off defeat