A DEFIANT Gareth Southgate last night insisted the Riverside boo-boys would not get the better of him, despite a series of chants calling for his head in the latter stages of a 1-0 defeat to Leicester.

Lloyd Dyer’s 83rd-minute winner condemned the Teessiders to a second home defeat in succession, and sparked a chorus of “You’re getting sacked in the morning” from the away support.

A sizeable section of home fans at the other end of the ground joined in the singing, and a crescendo of boos followed the final whistle as the lowest league crowd in Riverside history voiced their frustration at Boro’s three-game winless run.

Many supporters questioned Southgate’s position in the summer, and while the pressure on chairman Steve Gibson is mounting, the Boro boss insisted he would not be losing any sleep over last night’s criticism.

“This is the nature of modern football as far as I am concerned,” said Southgate.

“This is the sort of reaction you get, and I’m not hiding from it, and I never will. I’m big enough to handle it and I understand where it’s coming from.

“I respect it, because I thought the fans gave the team fantastic backing. They responded to the fact that the likes of (Joe) Bennett were really bombing forward, and Adam (Johnson) was very bright all night.

“For whatever reason, some nights it’s not meant to be. To be honest, I thought we thoroughly deserved to win the game.”

Nevertheless, with crowds dwindling and the prevailing mood growing ever more mutinous, the atmosphere amongst Boro supporters in unlikely to improve unless Southgate can oversee a quick improvement in fortunes.

Ironically, last night’s result has not affected the club’s league position, with the Teessiders still in fourth position, just three points short of an automatic promotion place.

But it has piled further pressure on a youthful squad ahead of Saturday’s away game at Reading, and while Southgate is willing to take anything that is hurled his way, he is urging Boro’s fans not to turn on his players.

“We might have to close ranks within the dressing room now and say, ‘Let’s be extremely mentally tough through this period’,” he said.

“There’s been plenty of times I’ve had to do that during my time as a player.

“If the fans want to give me stick, fine. As long as they back the team like they did tonight, that’s the most important thing.”

Boro were somewhat unfortunate to lose last night’s game, with Dyer’s goal coming out of the blue with just seven minutes left, but Southgate admitted his side did not record enough shots at goal.

“I thought we looked the most likely to win it, and I thought we deserved to win it if I’m honest,” he said.

“We didn’t really create enough in the first half of the game, and we were probably guilty of not getting enough shots on target, although their keeper did have to make a couple of good saves.”

Leicester boss Nigel Pearson was in the Middlesbrough team when the Riverside support turned against Bryan Robson in the late 1990s, and the former Boro skipper found the anti-Southgate chanting in the final stages of last night’s game distasteful.

“I hate hearing all that,” said Pearson. “I don’t like hearing stuff like that. What’s important here is that it’s a difficult time in the sense that Boro were in the Premier League for ten seasons, but before that they were a bit of a yo-yo club.

“To bounce back from relegation is never easy and the expectation at the three clubs that have been relegated is there week in, week out. But there’s no doubt in my mind that all three clubs will be part of the promotion shakeup.”