Mowbray admits defensive deficiencies are proving costly (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Mowbray admits defensive deficiencies are proving costly

8:00am Wednesday 6th March 2013 in Sport By Scott Wilson

A FRUSTRATED Tony Mowbray last night admitted Middlesbrough's defensive deficiencies were threatening to derail their play-off push after the concession of two goals in the final four minutes resulted in a damaging 2-1 defeat at Huddersfield.

Scott McDonald's 78th-minute strike looked like firing Boro back into the play-off places, but Huddersfield substitutes Alan Lee and Danny Ward struck in the closing stages to send the Teessiders tumbling to eighth position, their lowest league placing since the start of October.

Lee prodded home from close range after the Boro defence made a complete hash of dealing with a corner with four minutes left, before Ward drilled home from distance in stoppage time.

The strikes inflicted Boro's eighth Championship defeat of the calendar year, a statistic that underlines why they have slipped to the fringe of the play-off picture in recent weeks.

“We have to accept that if we keep losing goals like that we ain't going to be winning football matches,” said Mowbray. “We have to work hard to put it right. It's the basics of football at all levels, whether it's the Championship or the Conference.

“Defending a corner has become a problem for us in recent weeks. In the last six weeks or so, it's costing us.

“It's so frustrating because with five minutes to go, we were 1-0 up. We have to improve in that area and we have improve drastically. You can't beat anybody if you can't do the basics right and people have to do their jobs.

“Standing here having lost the football match, never mind drawing it, is hugely disappointing. It's a cruel game. It's another defeat in a game we should never have lost.”

For the vast majority of a bitterly disappointing evening, neither side looked like claiming all three points. Jose Mourinho claimed the “world would stop” when his Real Madrid side played Manchester United in the Champions League, and for large tracts of the night, it looked as though both sides at the John Smith's Stadium had taken him at his word.

Passes went astray on a pock-marked playing surface, but after digging in to establish themselves a winning position, the meekness of Boro's eventual surrender was alarming.

With ten games remaining, the Teessiders are surely going to have to claim at least five wins to make the play-offs, and on last night's evidence, seeing matches out is going to be a problem.

“It was a hard game and there wasn't a lot of quality out there,” said Mowbray. “Yet we got ourselves into a winning position and made life difficult for them.

“We frustrated them in the first half, went for it in the second and looked as if we were the team who would get the goal. We got the goal, and even after that I thought we could have scored a second. So to think we lost the match is quite unbelievable.

“It's happened too often - naivety, poor decision-making – but all you can do is analyse it, work hard, put it right and the next game will come along and we'll see how we go.”

With freezing fog swirling around the stadium, the Middlesbrough supporters housed in the opposite end to where McDonald scored could not see the ball hit the back of the net.

There was a bizarre period of silence before they finally realised what had happened and began celebrating, and for much of the second half it was impossible to see from one end of the field to the other.

After their snowy trip to Leicester, Boro have now been involved in two games that might not have been played to a conclusion, but Mowbray had no complaints about referee Stuart Attwell's decision to see the game out.

“We could see both goals,” he said. “We were aware we scored. Obviously our fans didn't see the goal which, when you've paid hard-earned money, is frustrating. But the referee's got to get the game finished.”

A FRUSTRATED Tony Mowbray last night admitted Middlesbrough's defensive deficiencies were threatening to derail their play-off push after the concession of two goals in the final four minutes resulted in a damaging 2-1 defeat at Huddersfield.

Scott McDonald's 78th-minute strike looked like firing Boro back into the play-off places, but Huddersfield substitutes Alan Lee and Danny Ward struck in the closing stages to send the Teessiders tumbling to eighth position, their lowest league placing since the start of October.

Lee prodded home from close range after the Boro defence made a complete hash of dealing with a corner with four minutes left, before Ward drilled home from distance in stoppage time.

The strikes inflicted Boro's eighth Championship defeat of the calendar year, a statistic that underlines why they have slipped to the fringe of the play-off picture in recent weeks.

“We have to accept that if we keep losing goals like that we ain't going to be winning football matches,” said Mowbray. “We have to work hard to put it right. It's the basics of football at all levels, whether it's the Championship or the Conference.

“Defending a corner has become a problem for us in recent weeks. In the last six weeks or so, it's costing us.

“It's so frustrating because with five minutes to go, we were 1-0 up. We have to improve in that area and we have improve drastically. You can't beat anybody if you can't do the basics right and people have to do their jobs.

“Standing here having lost the football match, never mind drawing it, is hugely disappointing. It's a cruel game. It's another defeat in a game we should never have lost.”

For the vast majority of a bitterly disappointing evening, neither side looked like claiming all three points. Jose Mourinho claimed the “world would stop” when his Real Madrid side played Manchester United in the Champions League, and for large tracts of the night, it looked as though both sides at the John Smith's Stadium had taken him at his word.

Passes went astray on a pock-marked playing surface, but after digging in to establish themselves a winning position, the meekness of Boro's eventual surrender was alarming.

With ten games remaining, the Teessiders are surely going to have to claim at least five wins to make the play-offs, and on last night's evidence, seeing matches out is going to be a problem.

“It was a hard game and there wasn't a lot of quality out there,” said Mowbray. “Yet we got ourselves into a winning position and made life difficult for them.

“We frustrated them in the first half, went for it in the second and looked as if we were the team who would get the goal. We got the goal, and even after that I thought we could have scored a second. So to think we lost the match is quite unbelievable.

“It's happened too often - naivety, poor decision-making – but all you can do is analyse it, work hard, put it right and the next game will come along and we'll see how we go.”

With freezing fog swirling around the stadium, the Middlesbrough supporters housed in the opposite end to where McDonald scored could not see the ball hit the back of the net.

There was a bizarre period of silence before they finally realised what had happened and began celebrating, and for much of the second half it was impossible to see from one end of the field to the other.

After their snowy trip to Leicester, Boro have now been involved in two games that might not have been played to a conclusion, but Mowbray had no complaints about referee Stuart Attwell's decision to see the game out.

“We could see both goals,” he said. “We were aware we scored. Obviously our fans didn't see the goal which, when you've paid hard-earned money, is frustrating. But the referee's got to get the game finished.”

More Middlesbrough FC News