Middlesbrough 1 QPR 3: Karanka left at a loss after so costly clanger

The game was fizzling out into a 1-1 draw at the Riverside after George Friend’s opener for Boro had been cancelled out by Yossi Benayoun just before the break.

But Rangers were gifted a goal out of the blue as goalkeeper Dimi Konstantopoulos went to clear a back-pass and a deceptive bounce followed by his air shot left Bobby Zamora free to tap in.

The London outfit sealed victory soon after through Ravel Morrison and Karanka said: “I don’t believe it. I can explain what happened but I can’t understand it. It has happened again.

“It was a game we did not deserve to lose. We had a good chance to win at one end and then suddenly we have lost the game.

“There was not much between the teams and we had chances but every week it is the same story. I just wish one game it would be us scoring in the last minute.”

But Karanka refused to blame Konstantopoulos for the pivotal moment against the fourth-placed side.

“I don’t blame him,” he said. “We are a team. We win as a team and we lose as a team. Yes, he has made a mistake – the ball looked to bounce – but it doesn’t matter who makes the mistake.

“For the rest of the game he played well and for 85 per cent, 90 per cent of the game the team played well and for this I am happy.”

Middlesbrough: Konstantopoulos, Varga, Omeruo, Gibson, Friend, Adomah, Chalobah, Whitehead, Kamara (Ledesma 88), Butterfield (Tomlin 64), Graham. Unused substitutes: Morris, Steele, Luke Williams, Main, Atkinson.

Queens Park Rangers: Green, Hughes, Onuoha, Hill, Yun, Benayoun (O’Neil 76), Barton, Carroll, Kranjcar (Hoilett 61), Morrison, Keane (Zamora 64). Unused substitutes: Simpson, Murphy, Donaldson, Petrasso.

Referee: K Hill (Hertfordshire).

Man of the match: Dean Whitehead.