No cause for complaint after Boro suffer their first defeat

Boro had come away from Selhurst Park with a 1-0 victory in the league last weekend but saw their cup hopes ended on Tuesday night when goals from Wilfried Zaha and Calvin Andrew eclipsed Merouane Zemmama’s effort for the visitors.

“I can’t complain about the effort,” said Mowbray.

“For long spells we were the ones trying to create the goals but you’ve got to stick the ball in the net.

“Palace are a good counter-attacking team, we gave the ball away sloppily and all of a sudden they are attacking and Zaha scores.

“He’s a talented young boy but we had no special plans for him. I don’t watch him every week

“But I’m pretty sure he’s the kind of player who blows hot and cold – when he’s hot he’s pretty hot and when he’s cold he probably finds himself substituted.

“We were going to lose at some stage this season and we found out at the weekend this is a very difficult place to come, but I’m comfortable with the way we applied ourselves to the game.”

Mowbray insisted he had no regrets about making a host of changes from the team which had beaten Palace three days earlier.

“Some players hadn’t played for a long time and it showed, but I felt they needed to play,” he added.

“If they don’t get a chance to play, when you need them won’t be ready, so I felt they needed some football under their belts. It’s not ideal but if we can find a performance at the weekend, that will be fine.”

Burnley reached the last 16 of the Carling Cup on the strength of their second-half performance, according to manager Eddie Howe.

Andre Amougou ended MK Dons’ resistance with an 89th-minute winner and Howe said: “We could have had more.

“But I thought our second-half performance was a lot better, we were a lot quicker with the ball and a lot more positive and got the ball wide and got a lot more crosses in the box.”

Burnley are yet to win in the Championship at Turf Moor but Howe hopes that can change against leaders Southampton this weekend.

He said: “With the players we have and the talent out wide we will score goals, it’s just a case of being tight and being a bit more resolute defensively.

“We’re a work in progress but I’m sure we will go on to improve.”