AITOR KARANKA was left puzzled by a costly first half display which led to an FA Cup exit at the Emirates Stadium last night and immediately challenged his players to make sure Middlesbrough return there next season.

Two goals in two first half minutes from French striker OIivier Giroud were enough to put Arsenal in to the quarter-finals and leave Boro to focus on securing Premier League football in August.

Arsenal, the 11-time winners and current holders of the FA Cup, had too much for Middlesbrough in the opening 45 minutes, although Karanka felt his team had more to offer than what they served up to the determined Gunners.   

But the Spaniard knows promotion is the main aim this season so will not be coming down too hard on his squad, knowing all about the quality Arsenal’s Champions League squad possessed against the Championship’s promotion contenders.

“The best thing that we can take from this experience is what it was like to play in this experience,” said Karanka, whose side have also played at Liverpool and Manchester City in the cup competitions.

“It is amazing to play at Anfield, it's amazing to play at the Etihad and it's amazing to play at the Emirates so we know if we want to play here next season or the following season we have to work hard because everyone knows how difficult the league is.”

After Middlesbrough’s impressive performances at Liverpool and Manchester City earlier in the season, Arsene Wenger clearly felt he had to send out a strong team to avoid the threat of a FA Cup shock.

Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla and Giroud were among those starting for the Gunners but they never really looked in the sort of danger which both Liverpool and City had to try to deal with.

Karanka, who collected Ozil’s shirt after the game for his son, said: “I think my players thought it was going to be easier because they played very well against Manchester City, they played very well against Liverpool and I think they thought it was going to be another game like City.

“If you look at the team sheet, they put out their best eleven so it's a good thing for us because it means they respect us. We have to keep going, we have had a bad day against Arsenal but we haven't dropped any points.

“A lot of people thought after our games against Manchester City and Liverpool that it would easy at Arsenal but there are miles and miles between Middlesbrough and Arsenal. Maybe a normal score could be 2-0 but I would like to play better.”

Bournemouth’s failure to overcome Huddersfield meant Middlesbrough still dropped back to second on Saturday night but remain level on points ahead of this Wednesday’s trip to Birmingham City; that will be the Teesside club’s game in hand.

Middlesbrough are staying and training in London for a couple of days rather than return to the North-East and will travel over to Birmingham on Tuesday.

Karanka is keen to see a positive reaction from his players, suggesting he was far from happy with the way Middlesbrough played for 45 minutes against Arsenal.

“We haven't played with the intensity we normally play with, we were disorganised,” said the former Real Madrid No 2. “If you go to the pitch to play Arsenal and you are not 100 per cent this kind of thing can happen.

“The second half was better and it was more comfortable for us. Now the Capital One Cup is gone, the FA Cup is gone and we have a lot of very good memories and now the league is the main thing.

“This could be a wake-up call again and we've lost an important game against Arsenal, but it's not critical so we have three days to work towards the next game. I need to know how they are and I will choose the best eleven for Wednesday.”