AFTER leaving Elland Road pointless and with the memory of Leeds United fans giving him a hostile reception on his return, Garry Monk believes his Middlesbrough players must immediately recover by enjoying home comforts this week.

Monk was given a verbal barracking from the home crowd who used to appreciate the fact he had led Leeds close to an unlikely play-off spot last season and it was those supporters left celebrating a victory on Sunday afternoon - at his expense.

The Middlesbrough boss had to endure defeat, bringing an end to three straight wins after a frustrating afternoon for the men from Teesside.

Monk had to listen to derogatory chants aimed at him throughout the encounter, and an entertaining game also saw controversy and even some missiles thrown from some on to the pitch when things got heated in the second half.

To rub salt into the wounds there were some crazy celebrations after the final whistle when Italian comedy duo Emigratis – the Milan pair are friends of Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani – embarked on a lap of the pitch to raise the noise levels too.

Leeds had ended up securing three points, and winning at home for the first time in four, courtesy of a goal in each half from Pablo Hernandez and Ezgjan Alioski, even though a debatable Britt Assombalonga penalty set up a frantic final 13 minutes.

Now Middlesbrough will attempt to get the promotion charge back on track this week when they have consecutive home dates against Birmingham City on Wednesday and then against Derby County on Saturday.

Middlesbrough could do with winning both because they have fallen further behind the automatic promotion places, with leaders Wolves sitting 12 points clear of them and second-placed Sheffield United holding a handsome ten point gap.

Monk said: “There’s a lot of football to be played. You see that week in and week out the changing and the fluctuation of places in the league, how it can change in one game, two games and three games. It changes all the time.

“We stay focused and we try to pick up results along the way. Off the back of a good run, three wins in a row, I think we deserved at least a point today and I think we will show a good response.

“We have been really good at home so we can look forward to these next two matches, we had also been on a good run before today in the league and we had a good home win in the last game.

“We want to be strong so we will look to build the momentum again. Whenever you suffer a negative result the response has to be strong. But you have seen the response of the players before, I have no doubts they can respond positively.”

Monk defended his decision to leave Leeds beforehand by claiming he didn’t feel he would have had the backing to lead a long term project, and then weeks later he took on the Middlesbrough job.

He said: “It was never my focus. It wasn’t about me, it was about my team on the pitch. We are disappointed with the result, but we feel we deserved more and should have got more. We didn’t and we have to respond in these next two home games.

“What happened has happened. The club has said their side and I have said my side. It’s done and dusted. I have great memories of this club here, enjoyed my time here last season and now my only focus is on Middlesbrough.

“I came to get a result and we didn’t do it. Now I want a response from the next couple of games.”

Monk was not overly concerned by the team’s performance either, despite the defeat. He said: “I’m disappointed with the result. Our plan, I knew it would be competitive, a good atmosphere, the game was done on fine margins. Limited chances for both teams.

“We started the game really well, the two goals came in those periods which was annoying. The first one, I think the flick on was vital to it and caused us problems, the second one we should have done better in terms of the header and the missed tackle.

“There was a lot of elements to that second goal which we should have done better with. Apart from that defensively we were quite comfortable. There weren’t that many clear cut chances for either team.”

Middlesbrough had shouts of a first half penalty when Gaetano Berardi appeared to pull down Assombalonga. But Monk said: “You can’t change any of it now so there’s no point. It’s fine margins, sometimes they go for you and sometimes they don’t.

“We did feel we deserved not to lose but we have. The response is the key now. We were comfortable really apart from a few counters as we pushed on for the equaliser.”

Leeds boss Christiansen felt the reception Monk got on his return did not affect the way the game panned out, and claimed the outcome was more to do with Leeds’ determination to defeat one of the division’s best sides.

Christiansen said: “Garry and me did not play. It was the players who had to respond on the pitch. The difference was the willingness to win. It was nice to hear the crowd too and they deserve to take the points.

“The players were aware of the atmosphere, it was not an extra motivation. The motivation was a strong team like Middlesbrough who want promotion immediately in the first two positions. That was the motivation.”