Why Neil Warnock believes Middlesbrough is probably the toughest job he's ever had

Boro’s 2-1 defeat at Hull City on Thursday night saw the Teessiders slip down the table with six games to go and Warnock is well aware of the perilous situation.

“I think it’s going to go right down to the death this year,” said Warnock ahead of Sunday’s meeting with QPR at the Riverside.

“We don’t score enough goals but the other day I would have been quite happy if we’d have scored one and won, I thought both goals were preventable.

“It’s alright saying the referee gave easy free-kicks but we have to defend them better than what we did.”

Warnock has previously said the squad is lacking natural defenders, the type of players which have helped his teams survive at previous clubs.

“I’ve said from day one this is probably as difficult a job as I’ve had this,” Warnock added. “Even at Rotherham we had a group of five or six of what I call defenders and we were able to build from that.

“I think we have quite a lot of midfield players here, good midfield players. We have a couple of strikers but I think there’s a shortage in that area, we’ve got good wide players.

“We have no back-up regarding full-backs and are limited at centre-half.

“It’s going to be a fight for our lives and we’ve got to scrap and try to get those points.”