Middlesbrough manager Neil Warnock dissects Stoke City goal following 1-0 defeat

Nathan Collins’ 19th minute header was enough to separate the sides at the bet365 Stadium as Boro struggled to threaten in the final third.

While the match was a disappointing contrast from Wednesday night’s 2-1 win against Swansea City at the Riverside, Warnock refrained from being overly critical of his players.

“I’m not [disappointed] at all, I thought [the players] gave me everything,” admitted the Boro boss. “I was really pleased with the effort and everything about it.”

Boro managed just one shot on target over the 90-minutes, a 20-yard effort from Marvin Johnson which was parried into the path of George Saville who hit the post on the rebound. That proved to be Middlesbrough’s best opportunity of an otherwise uneventful match.

At the other end, Warnock was quick to pick apart the mistakes that led to Stoke’s early goal which proved to be decisive.

“I'm disappointed with the goal we conceded because we had the ball in the six-yard box," he added.

“Chuba [Akpom] lost it and he could have easily had a call to hold the ball but there was nobody near him, he heads it to their man, [Marcus Tavernier] should stop the cross coming in, [Marc] Bola should have spoke about Jonny [Howson] leaving his man in the box.

"It was a mixture of little mistakes that I was really disappointed in but apart from that, I thought we just lacked quality in the final third really, I thought both teams did.”

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