Jonathan Woodgate retains faith in his Middlesbrough squad

Middlesbrough manager Jonathan Woodgate: Spoke of 'fine margins.'

MIDDLESBROUGH are one of five teams yet to taste victory in the Championship and, after defeat at Ewood Park, manager Jonathan Woodgate felt a “poor game” was decided on “fine margins.”

Former Boro and current Blackburn manager Tony Mowbray felt his side’s quality drove them onto the 1-0 win, despite admitting the “aesthetics weren’t so great.”

The hosts edged it thanks to a 25th-minute penalty from former Boro forward Danny Graham.

That aside, chances were at a premium, though Marcus Browne hit a post for the visitors, who were also indebted to Darren Randolph for a super save.

For Middlesbrough, there was very little cutting edge, and striking the woodwork in the second half was an exception to the rule in terms of their performance.

Woodgate said: “I thought it was a poor game really from both teams. I thought a draw would have been a fair result. I don’t think any team particularly dominated and like I say, football’s fine margins. They got the penalty and scored, we hit the post late on.

“It was one of those games, but we need to really grind it out and get that result. You can’t always play well, but we move on and go again on Tuesday.

“I think it was a penalty, I could see from where I was. I’m not going to stand here and say I didn’t think it was, I’ll just be honest. I thought it was a penalty and the referee got it right. We need to do better in those situations. I believe 100 per cent in my players.”

Blackburn Rovers: Walton, Bennett, Lenihan, Williams, Cunningham, Travis, Johnson, Gallagher, Dack (Buckley 76), Downing (Rothwell 76), Graham (Armstrong 71). Unused substitutes: Nyambe, Leutwiler, Bell, Evans.

Middlesbrough: Randolph, Dijksteel (Tavernier 61), Ayala, Shotton, Friend (Walker 83), McNair, Wing, Johnson (Browne 70), Howson, Fletcher, Assombalonga. Unused substitutes: Clayton, Saville, Bola, Pears.

Referee: J Gillett (Australia).