GARRY MONK is having to deal with growing pressure from the fans as he attempts to revive Middlesbrough’s faltering promotion hopes, and is searching for a solution to the problem of his players repeatedly shooting themselves in the foot.

Monk has seen his team follow up a much-needed three points by losing the following match three times in six weeks.

It happened when they defeated Sunderland, only to lose at Leeds. Then after beating Birmingham, they lost to Derby and on Saturday they went down at Millwall after overcoming Ipswich.

Throw in the poor performances that led to defeat at Bristol City during that period and it is easy to understand why Middlesbrough need to go on a winning run to ease some of the pressure on his shoulders.

Monk, who has retained the backing of chairman Steve Gibson so far, is about to enter a period which could make or break the season. The next four festive fixtures will come along in quick succession and positive results are required to close the five-point gap to the play-offs.

Finishing in the top two was always the target at the start of the season, and is still not being ruled out by the players, but with 15 points to make up on second-placed Cardiff City there is going to have to be a dramatic turnaround for that gap to disappear.

Monk said: “There’s no-one more frustrated than myself and the players, you work so hard in the week to make sure it’s done right. When it’s delivered you put yourself in a position to win games. But this has happened too many times.

“Criticism comes with that and quite rightly so. But we have no other choice but to work and hope that it turns round and we stop making these mistakes and giving teams the other hand.

“Just when you think you’re making a forward step, like we did last week, we take a backward step again. I never question the effort, I just don’t expect this level of naivety from the players we’ve got.”

Middlesbrough had created a couple of openings before six sloppy first half minutes allowed Millwall to coast into a two-goal advantage.

Firstly there was too much space in the Middlesbrough half for Millwall to exploit and Jed Wallace put them ahead. The second was even worse, as George Saville capitalised on a mix-up between Jonny Howson and Daniel Ayala after a cross from the right to enter the area.

Monk said: “The margin for error is minimal for what we want to achieve this season; you can’t afford for such basic errors at any level. It’s something we’ll continue to address; we have no other choice but to keep working and trying to eradicate those type of things from our game.

“It’s bitterly frustrating and it’s a hard pill to take. We’ve given ourselves an uphill battle too many times and you can’t afford to do that in any league.”

Middlesbrough follow up this Saturday’s trip to Sheffield Wednesday with two home dates against Bolton and Aston Villa before travelling to Preston on New Year’s Day; when the transfer window will open.

Monk said: “We got outmuscled, we got bullied at Millwall. Second half we took care of it but nine times out of ten, it’s too late by then. We showed a good reaction and got a goal, we had chances to equalise, but it’s simple mistakes that have cost us goals and ultimately cost us points.

“It’s frustrating, we prepared for what was to come there. When they scored that first goal from such a naive mistake, it becomes difficult. We lost the physical battle in quite a few areas.”

Steve Agnew, meanwhile, is on the verge of teaming up with Steve Bruce again at Aston Villa.

Agnew is understood to have been on gardening leave from the Riverside since the end of last season when he was not kept on as manager on a permanent basis. 

He was unable to lead a turnaround following Aitor Karanka’s departure in March and Middlesbrough dropped into the Championship.

Agnew was Bruce’s assistant at Hull City before he was handed the opportunity to return to Teesside to be Karanka’s right-hand man.