MIDDLESBROUGH defender George Friend insists there was no reason for any fans to be left annoyed by the manner of the EFL Cup exit at Bournemouth in midweek, and he is confident fortunes in the Championship will improve.

Boro’s winless run extended to six matches in all competitions at the Vitality Stadium where their Premier League hosts managed to seal a place in the last eight at the expense of the men from Teesside on Tuesday.

Middlesbrough showed plenty of promise on the south coast, with Adama Traore and Marcus Tavernier most effective, but in the end they were made to pay for further lapses in concentration at the back.

Errors have become the Achilles heel of Garry Monk’s team over the last six weeks, a period of time when he has seen his side drop down the table and regularly fall behind in matches.

Criticism has grown from the stands, although the 1,000 strong away support on the south coast stayed with the team throughout and the only jibes aimed at Monk and his team after the latest defeat appeared to be through social media.

Friend said: “If fans are frustrated after Tuesday night’s performance then they should be deluded, it’s only the ones who were at the ground who could give a true account. But that performance and desire showed what we can do.

“Bournemouth respected us by playing a strong team and brought some regular Premier League players on as well.

“We are disappointed to be out of the cup and we understand our league form has not been good enough, we are the first to say that. But we know there are positives we can take with us and build on, but everyone has to stick with us because we will be up there this season.”

Middlesbrough have another trek to Reading today when they know they could do with ending the wait for a victory to close the ten point gap which exists to the automatic promotion places.

A number of players, perhaps including Friend, could have played his way into Monk’s thinking for a league start, and the left-back feels the squad is too strong not to come good and force themselves into the reckoning in the race to the Premier League.

Friend said: “You do go through sticky patches in this league and the good thing is you can get out of them, improve and rocket up that league.

“We are all keeping the faith in the dressing room because we have enough players who have done it before and the quality of player who has arrived who want Premier League football. We are all in it together and we will keep going.”

While there was frustration that the EFL Cup run ended, the competition did provide a platform for Tavernier and Lewis Wing to shine. Tavernier, 18, scored a sweet goal at Bournemouth, while Wing impressed in the previous two rounds after moving from the Northern League with Shildon.

Friend said: “You can’t forget what Tavernier did at Villa in the cup as well, he put a lovely ball in and he got his goal on Tuesday. He was superb and I was really pleased and it was a pleasure to play alongside him.

“Wingy impresses me every time he trains with us. When you think of where he has come from, I came from non-league myself and not as low as that, but he has some serious talent, he has had a chance.

“It is exciting. Boro fans should be excited about the fact we have some good young players and it feels like we are getting that academy feeling back, it’s brilliant.”

Friend has told another academy graduate to learn from his errors and become an even better player. Dael Fry was guilty of being involved in all three of Bournemouth’s goals the other night.

Friend said: “Dael is young as well. He has been one of our best players. As soon as someone makes a mistake people are quick to turn on him but he has a great future ahead of him. He has been excellent for us and the Under-21s/20s.

“The score at Bournemouth didn’t reflect the game. There were a few errors which cost us again but on the whole I thought it was a decent performance. We could have actually scored a couple off their mistakes and that’s the difference. We will learn from it in terms of individual mistakes.

“The manager had his tactics and will be happy with how we implemented those. Adama, after a few tricky weeks, really showed character as well, people forget how young he is. I was really impressed with him too.”