The Middlesbrough head coach was not happy with one key decision in Saturday's home draw with Championship rivals Bristol City.

Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg could not hide his frustration in the aftermath of Saturday’s home draw with Championship rivals Bristol City.

Boro went into the game looking for a first win at the Riverside Stadium since January and appeared to be on their way to ending that wait for a victory on their home patch when January transfer window signing Leo Castledine grabbed his first goal for the club midway through the second half. Despite creating several chances to double their advantage, Boro’s lead remained at one as the closing moments approached and there was great disappointment when Robins midfielder Adam Randell snatched a point for the visitors in the sixth minute of injury-time.

The draw meant Boro are now seven points adrift of Championship leaders Coventry City - but also ensured fellow automatic promotion contenders Ipswich Town and Millwall to close within two points of Hellberg’s side with just eight games remaining in what has been a long and challenging season. Referee Stephen Martin came in for criticism from the Boro boss in the aftermath of the game after he allowed seven minutes of injury-time to be played at the end of the second half and only allowing one minute of additional time to be played during the first half. Hellberg revealed he approached the match official in the aftermath of the game as he looked to get an explanation - and revealed his frustration at the response he received and described the rules about speaking to officials as ‘weird’.

Speaking at his post-match press conference, the Swede said: “I think there are things that need to be sorted out in English football. When I watch football games at home I’m thinking, ‘put some pace on the game. Referee, put pace on the game’. I cannot, for my world, understand how we can put one minute extra time in the first half when they are wasting every second of it. And then he put seven in the second half. There’s a lot of things that I think is very, very questionable. Maybe the rules are like that. It’s just football in general.

He continued: “I’m looking at my vision of the games. I think that’s weird. I was going to speak to the referee, he told me to come in, but he has now left. Maybe the rules are what the rules are, but I think it’s weird. That’s what I wanted to ask him [why seven minutes], and he said ‘not out here, we take it inside’. I have to do my duties and then I come in and he’s off.

“Yeah, it’s weird, and I have no good answer why, or what he would have told me. There’s teams now coming here, taking time over every throw-in, and I’m trying to tell them, ‘put a little bit of pace on the game’ because I want that when I watch the games. I think that is important for football. I’m not talking about this referee, I’m talking about in general. I think it’s important. Today, he got seven minutes in the second half and yeah, I don’t know why because he left.”

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