Middlesbrough boss Neil Warnock picks out key moment from Preston defeat and provides Jonny Howson injury update

Boro have struggled in the final third this campaign and hardly threatened their opponents’ goal in a quiet first half at Deepdale.

The hosts took the lead just after the hour mark when Andrew Hughes’ shot deflected in off Brad Potts.

Boro almost drew level when Marvin Johnson’s effort was cleared but fell further behind after two late goals from Scott Sinclair and Emil Riis.

“I think opportunities haven’t been taken but I thought in the second half we came out well,” said Warnock after the match.

“We had a goal like that against us, another deflection and then I thought the turning point was the chance that they cleared off the line which would have made it 1-1.

“Then we had to chase the game and ended up conceding two goals.

“I think it just shows how young the squad is and the disappointment was missing so many opportunities. I thought Marvin Johnson was outstanding tonight, the crosses he put in.

“We are not going to win headers in the box by the looks of it so we have to get across players now and try to score goals.

“We have just got to regroup and move on to Millwall on Saturday.”

Boro lost midfielder Jonny Howson immediately after Preston’s first goal as the 32-year-old appeared to pull his hamstring.

Howson was replaced by Marcus Tavernier on Boro’s eight-man bench, which was left a player short due after defender Nathan Wood was sent home ill.

When asked about Howson, Warnock replied: “We are not 100 per cent sure, he thought he’d just cramped up but they are a similar thing hamstrings.

“I saw it straight away so shouted to Tav to get his gear off because we didn’t want to risk anything like that.

“We are going to get injuries like that, young Woodsy wasn’t feeling well today so we had to send him home as well.

“We are a bit thin at the minute but you just have to carry on.”

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