Never mind the result, what about ‘disgraceful’ changing rooms? Middlesbrough chief Neil Warnock

Nathan Collins headed Stoke ahead after 19 minutes and that proved the only goal, Boro’s best chance coming when George Saville hit the post after 39 minutes.

“I thought the players gave me everything,” said Warnock.

“I’m disappointed with the goal we conceded. There wasn’t communication and we should have stopped the ball coming in and not left the man unmarked.

“Apart from that, we lacked quality in the final third, but I think both teams did.

“Once Stoke went in front, they defended well and with men behind the ball so we needed something special to unlock them.

“We just weren’t good enough today but I can’t fault the effort.”

Warnock was left fuming at what he saw as a ‘disgraceful’ dressing room. “We were in a pig sty around the corner here,” he added.

“We had fumes coming in the dressing room and had to get the maintenance men out. The toilets didn’t work. The showers were leaking and there’s water everywhere. It is a disgrace.

“You shouldn’t be made to change in a place like that, it was freezing and out of order.”

Stoke manager Michael O’Neill praised the character of his side saying: “It was a competitive game and we had to make three subs due to injury. The most important thing was that we were still strong enough to defend our lead. We had chances at the end to kill it off and looked a threat.”

Stoke City: Bursik, Collins, Chester, Batth (Shawcross 67), Fox, Cousins; Clucas (Tymon 8), Campbell, Powell (Oakley-Boothe 74), McClean; Brown. Unused substitutes: Lindsay, Ince, Vokes, Smith, Verlinden, Lonergan.

Middlesbrough: Bettinelli, Spence, Fry, McNair, Bola, Howson; Tavernier (Wing 90), Morsy (Watmore 63), Saville (Folarin 90); Johnson (Roberts 62), Akpom (Assombalonga 62). Unused substitutes: Wood-Gordon, Stojanovic, Coulson, Jones.

Referee: J Simpson (Lancashire).