Middlesbrough 1 Swansea City 1: Flood fluke was well deserved – Strachan

Strachan's side have been ravaged with injuries in the past few weeks, leaving him with just 11 fit senior professionals to field at the Riverside and a bench including three teenagers and four players who have never started a senior game.

Boro were outplayed for long spells by a polished Welsh outfit and trailed two minutes after the interval to a Gorka Pintado goal.

But they got a break just before the hour mark as a cross from Flood – making his home debut after last week's move from Celtic – swirled and dipped beyond back-pedalling Swansea goalkeeper Dorus De Vries and curled into the far top corner.

"Yes, it was a lucky break for us," admitted Strachan. "But we've had more than our share of injuries and we've had to decimate the youth team just to turn out a bench so maybe we deserved that. Willo didn't mean that goal to go in and he would be the first to admit it but I think we deserve a wee break right now. And I think we earned it.

"We worked hard and we created a lot of chances, especially in the first half which was very pleasing.

"And after they scored we rolled up our sleeves and were terrific in forcing the game and winning the point and that was pleasing too.

"It was difficult for us at times because they had the extra man in midfield but between the two boxes there were some terrific performances."

Swans boss Paolo Sousa agreed that Boro's fightback deserved some reward.

"The draw was a fair result," he said. "They started off better than us, they created difficulties and it took a while for us to impose ourselves.

"We came out at the start of the second half and got the goal but Middlesbrough are a fine team and deserved the point."