Middlesbrough were lucky to get point, concedes Monk

“That was not the performance we wanted,” he said. “We are trying to set a high standard for the players and the club – and we feel disappointment.

“Overall, we didn’t do the basics well enough. You have to get the nuts and bolts right and we didn’t.

“We need to take a lesson from (the game) and we never came out on top of them in any instance. They were first to every header, every tackle.

“The positive is that we still take a point and got a clean sheet. The point could be valuable, but we wanted three.

“But I think we were probably lucky to get the result we did.”

Preston have made a solid start to the campaign that has yielded eight points, despite a tough opening set of fixtures.

Manager Alex Neil said of Saturday’s game: “If any team deserved to win it was us. We had the best chances in the game and we deserved a goal.

“It was a good match. Two good teams and to come here against a team fancied for the league, we played really well.

“It is really frustrating not to get a goal. It was a lack of decision-making in the final side, and Darren Randolph has made a few good saves.

“We actually had more possession and dominated. I thought we had enough in the game to win it.”

Middlesbrough: Randolph, Fry, Gibson, Friend (Bamford 55), Christie, Baker (Downing 68), Howson, Clayton, Da Silva, Gestede, Assombalonga. Unused substitutes: Konstantopoulos, Ayala, Leadbitter, Fletcher, Roberts.

Preston North End: Maxwell, Fisher, Huntington, Davies, Earl, Pearson (Harrop 70), Sean Maguire (Robinson 90), Johnson, Browne, Barkhuizen (Mavididi 75), Hugill. Unused substitutes: Vermijl, Horgan, Spurr, Hudson.

Referee: Darren England (South Yorkshire).