Tony Pulis has had better returns to Wales, but as a native he would have learned at an early age that Cardiff is not a place for the faint-hearted.

The Middlesbrough manager grew up in Pill, a tough district of Newport just 15 miles down the road from the Cardiff City Stadium and a place equally as unforgiving as the streets around the Bluebirds’ ground and the bruising team that lurks within it.

It would be wrong to claim that Boro were mugged, as that suggests they did not anticipate what was coming their way.

Pulis knew that Cardiff are the most physical, most robust, and perhaps the most powerful team in the Championship but somehow that message failed to get through to his players.

Aside from some moments of dash and dare by Adama Traore, Pulis’s team offered little that threatened to prevent a routine victory for Cardiff, now second in the Championship - 13 points better off than Boro - and appear best equipped to follow Wolves’ coattails and head directly into the Premier League.

Boro were bullied. They had little answer to the surging power Cardiff had in their midfield and when the balls were fired into the visitors’ penalty area it was generally the home side who wanted it more – an obvious case in point being the only goal.

Pulis claimed Ben Gibson was fouled by Cardiff skipper Sean Morrison in the first-half when he connected with Junior Hoilett’s free-kick, but it was mainly a matter of desire overcoming reticence – a feature repeated all over the field in a game Boro never looked likely to get anything from, despite some urgency in the final few moments.

"I thought in the first half we found it difficult to cope with Cardiff,” admitted Pulis, whose side have now won only once in their last four.

"Cardiff really squeezed the life out of us at times. They're very good at what they do. They've got an identity and they play to that identity. Whether you like it or not they do it very well.

"You look at their team, they've got five or six players who are over 6ft 3in, never mind ones over six foot.

"We knew it was going to be difficult but I've got no complaints. That's how they play, that's the way it is and they've been fantastic this year.

"It was a difficult pitch and we've got some good players in the team. But Cardiff are second in the league for a reason. They've got an identity, and I like watching teams with an identity. Whether you agree with it, or like watching it, that's up to you. But I can't stand watching teams without an identity."

Given Pulis’s own associations with teams who favour a direct approach, it is hardly surprising there was a tone of admiration in his assessment of Neil Warnock’s team, who were not fancied for promotion by the bookies before the season began.

But just as labelling Stoke City under Pulis as route one, or one-dimensional, always did their former manager a disservice, it would be wrong to suggest Cardiff are just long ball merchants.

In the experienced Hoilett and midfielders Joe Ralls and loan signing Armand Traore (no relation to Adama) they have skillful players who compliment the more muscular talents of Kenneth Zohore, Morrison and Sol Bamba.

Whenever Boro conceded a set-piece near their own goal, that trio provided an aerial threat which Gibson, Ryan Shotton and Daniel Ayala found difficult to deal with.

"Set-plays were always going to be important for us," added the Boro boss.

"Looking at it, we think it's a free-kick (for the goal). Morrison is all over Gibson, but we don't get that decision and truthfully that was the decisive moment."

After falling behind, Boro were overrun in midfield where Mo Besic – playing his first match for over two months – gave a reasonably encouraging debut without setting the world alight.

The Bosnian, on loan from Everton, was neat and tidy in possession, but formed part of a midfield that were hustled out of their stride.

But Pulis believes few teams in the Championship present the physical problems of Warnock’s promotion-chasers and he is backing the likes of Besic and Stuart Downing to have more influence on the remaining matches as Boro seek to find a way into the play-off places.

He added: “We have 14 games to go and we have to put a run together, but the pitch was difficult for the players today.

“In the second-half we were much better, but the pressure Cardiff put on us made it difficult. We had good footballers in the team with Stuart Downing, Grant Leadbitter and Jonny Howson, but Cardiff squeezed the life out of us.”

If Pulis can harness the talents of that trio to the raw menace of Traore – while finding a way to reduce the Spaniard’s showy petulance when things don’t go his way – then Boro might yet muscle up in the final push-and-shove for the top six.