Cardiff City 1 Middlesbrough 0: Just not good enough, admits Boro chief

But Boro chief Gordon Strachan was unhappy that the goal was allowed to stand, even though he admitted his side's performance was not good enough.

"We felt that Bothroyd was offside when he scored, but we were unable to take our chances," he said. "We have played a lot worse than that this season and won games, but it is still very disappointing.

"The referee claimed that Leroy Lita had handled just before we had a goal disallowed, but we also thought Bothroyd was offside when he scored. Hopefully, the play-off race will go to the wire which will help us to get right in there, but today we just weren't good enough."

The Boro defence stood still when Gabor Gyepes prodded a loose ball towards goal and Bothroyd steered the ball home.

Cardiff could have had a penalty on the stroke of half-time when Chris Burke was brought down by Gary O'Neil. Referee Darren Deadman thought otherwise and booked Burke for diving.

The visitors should have levelled four minutes after the break when a near-post header by Lita went over.

Middlesbrough did have the ball in the net through David Wheater but the 'goal' was disallowed and Lita and Barry Robson were booked for dissent.

Robson forced a one-handed save from David Marshall as the Bluebirds hung on.

Cardiff City: Marshall, McNaughton, Gyepes, Gerrard, Matthews, Burke, Rae, Blake, McCormack (Capaldi 90), Chopra, Bothroyd. Unused substitutes: Enckelman, Quinn, Taiwo, Wilding, Feeney, Meades.

Middlesbrough: Coyne, Taylor, McManus, Wheater, Naughton, Flood (Rhys Williams 52), O'Neil, Robson, Arca, Lita, Aliadiere (Killen 40). Unused substitutes: Jones, Miller, Grounds, Bennett, Franks.

Referee: D Deadman (Cambridgeshire).

Man of the match: Barry Robson.