STEVE McClaren last night admitted the international break could have come at the wrong time for his Middlesbrough players.

Boro, who suffered defeat at Charlton yesterday, did not look the same side that had gone four games without losing prior to the European Championship quaifiers.

And McClaren indicated that the gap in domestic fixtures could well have had an effect on his troops, who are nevertheless still sitting in a healthy fifth position in the top flight.

He said: "You always wonder when you have an international break what it will do.

"You have to have these breaks, but we did not come back from the break as good as we would have hoped.

"Charlton were livelier than us and maybe it did come at the wrong time for us.

"But, despite going behind, we continued to work hard and we have to give credit to the players for keeping going."

Jason Euell's fifth-minute strike handed the Addicks their first victory of the season in front of their own fans and their first win at the Valley in seven months.

And McClaren revealed he was disappointed with the way his side started the encounter.

The Boro chief said: "We always tell the players - we stress to them - that the first 20 minutes are vital. We always know that the start of a match sets the tempo for the rest of the game.

"But we showed a great attitute in the second half and we could have taken something.

"But credit to Charlton, they got amongst us, got about us and they deserved the result."

He added: "People have been slapping us on the backs and saying we are this, that and the other. Maybe we needed this result to get the realisation into everybody. It's another learning curve for us."

McClaren revealed Alen Boksic missed the match with a foot injury.

He said: "Alen took a knock on the top of his foot while he was with Croatia. It's not too serious and he should be OK."

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