Middlesbrough boss Chris Wilder reacts to win over Swansea City

Goals from Riley McGree and Matt Crooks in the first half were enough for the three points as Joel Piroe’s late penalty handed the Swans a lifeline.

A late red card from Ben Cabango left the away side with too much to do to as they lost 2-1.

As Boro tasted victory in the Championship and ended their five-match winless run, Wilder was complimentary of the way his players got the result.

“It was a right difficult game,” he said.

“Swansea is probably the hardest game in a lot of ways. The way they play is obviously how Russell (Martin) wants his team to play. That’s really difficult to play against.

“We had to show a really disciplined side to us because when we get beat at Reading, everyone in the ground wants to go ‘come on, let’s press and get after them’. That is part of the game.

“I think we are quite good at pressing but Swansea is possibly the hardest game to play. When you’re looking at who you want to play after you have not got a result after five games, it certainly isn’t Swansea.

“I’ve said to the players it was always going to be one of those games. Whoever it was we were playing against, it was always going to be a comfortable afternoon or something happens with a penalty which I still don’t understand.”

Despite Boro’s dominance for an hour of the game, Swansea worked their way back into it and Martin felt his side gave themselves too much to do to get something from the Riverside Stadium.

“We started the game really well, loads of purpose and control,” he said. “We make a mistake and don’t react well enough to it. That’s a sign of where we’re at the minute, we’re really getting punished for those mistakes.

“It’s probably a sign of having a young team. We had a wobble for 10 minutes which leads to the second goal. After that, the boys couldn’t give us any more in the second half.”