Middlesbrough's poor run at the Riverside Stadium goes on following 3-1 defeat against Bristol City

The loss comes as further disappointment to Boro, who could have moved five points clear of the bottom three after other results went their way on Saturday afternoon.

With Hull City, Charlton Athletic and Huddersfield Town all suffering defeats this weekend, Neil Warnock's side were presented with a great opportunity to pull clear of the relegation scrap, however, two moments of brilliance from the Robins effectively ended the contest by half time.

Nakhi Wells scored brilliantly inside the first 10 minutes before Jamie Paterson doubled the lead in the final stages of the opening period. Wells, a former Huddersfield player, added his second and City's third to seal victory.

Britt Assombalonga grabbed a consolation in the 82nd minute with a fine finish from the edge of the box.

Middlesbrough have now gone nine home matches without a win, with their last victory at the Riverside coming on Boxing Day in a 1-0 success over Huddersfield Town.

Both teams remained unchanged from their fixtures in midweek, when Middlesbrough won 2-0 at Millwall while Bristol had secured a 2-1 victory over Hull.

Wells did his old club Huddersfield a favour just six minutes into the contest when he placed a delightful curling effort into the back of the net via the post.

Middlesbrough were unshaken by going behind and looked threatening going forward and were denied an equaliser by a fine piece of goalkeeping from Daniel Bentley.

George Saville powered a header towards the goal but Bentley was on hand to tip the ball onto the underside of the bar before it was scrambled away.

Dael Fry also had a great chance with the home side a goal down when the ball fell to him eight yards out but he put his shot well over the crossbar.

The hosts were unable to make the most of their short spell of dominance and the Robins doubled their lead in the 42nd minute when Patterson, another ex-Terrier, rifled the ball into the top corner from a tight angle.

Wells could have had his second with the final kick of the half but skied the ball over the bar from a great position.

The win was sealed with 11 minutes to play when Wells poked by the ball past Dejan Stojanovic.

Britt Assombalonga got Boro on the scoresheet as he created space on the edge of the penalty area and fired the ball through a defender's legs to find the bottom corner.

Warnock's charges travel to Reading on Tuesday before completing their campaign with a home fixture against Cardiff City and a trip to Sheffield Wednesday.

Middlesbrough: Stojanovic; Spence, Shotton (Tavernier 66), Fry, Friend, Johnson; McNair (McNair 77), Howson (Clayton 83), Saville (Wing 45); Fletcher (Roberts 66), Assombalonga. Unused substitutes: Dijksteel, Morrison, Nmecha, Pears.

Bristol City: Bentley; Kalas, Baker. Benkovic; Dasilva, Smith, Weimann, Paterson (Nagy 87), Hunt (Vyner 87); Wells (O'Dowda 83), Diedhiou (Watkins 82). Unused substitutes: Eliasson, Rowe, Wollacott, Mssengo.