'We handed them three goals on a plate' - Chris Wilder critical of Middlesbrough's defending in defeat to Cardiff City

Cardiff produced easily their best 45 minutes of the season as they raced into a three-goal lead at the break courtesy of goals from Callum O’Dowda, Mark Harris and Perry Ng.

Boro battled back after the break and two goals in the space of a minute from Duncan Watmore and Rodrigo Muniz ensured the Bluebirds had to survive some nervy late moments to claim their first away win of the season.

The defeat was Middlesbrough’s fourth in nine league games and leaves them with just nine points and Wilder felt his side handed the visitors “three goals on a plate”.

Wilder said: “The defending was terrible. We were playing a team that weren’t on a great run and we wanted to get out of the traps, but we certainly didn’t do that.

“We made a fabulous fast start against Sunderland, where our intensity and decision-making were good, but the decision-making tonight, for all three goals, was really poor.

“If you give a team that’s struggling a bit of a leg-up, then they fancy it. I think we would have fancied it if we’d been handed three goals on a plate, because that’s what happened.

“There’s so many individual errors. The first goal, I’ve got an experienced player smashing a ball into a player who’s got three players around him. The second one, we intercept a loose pass and it’s our turn to play, but the skipper makes a mistake and we’re 2-0 down.

“There was a nervousness and edginess about us then and it spread right through the stadium. That was expected and deserved.

“The icing on the cake for them was their third goal, but there’s so many faults in that from our point of view in terms of the structure and how it should have been dealt with.”