THE WINNING mentality instilled by Aitor Karanka at Middlesbrough means that a point and a clean sheet away from home can no longer be considered a good day at the office.

Their goalless draw at Reading closed the gap between themselves and Championship leaders Bournemouth, but there were glum faces aplenty at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday evening as Middlesbrough spurned a number of gilt-edged opportunities in a frustrating afternoon in Berkshire.

Boro’s matchday captain Grant Leadbitter confirmed that while there were positives to take from the goalless draw – in which Adam Reach and Daniel Ayala both missed from point-blank range and Royals stopper Adam Federici made a string of superlative saves – they cannot be happy with their lot under Karanka.

“We’re not happy with ourselves, but it was a good performance. Chances are killing us, we have to put chances away to make games easier for us,” said Leadbitter after the game.

“The defenders will look at it and say it’s good to get a clean sheet away from home, but we want to progress and have a winning mentality in the dressing room, so we have to win games, we have to put chances away that we created on Saturday, Blackburn home and away, these games where we can’t let these points pass us by.

“We feel we should have got the win but we haven’t, we come to work on Tuesday and we move on.“

As well as Ayala and Reach’s misses, Albert Adomah and Patrick Bamford were denied by Federici’s heroics which earned him the man of the match plaudits, but Leadbitter added: “Goalkeepers will say that they’re making good saves, but maybe we’re making bad misses.

“We’ve got to look at it that way. Make sure we put chances away and make life a lot easier for us. We haven’t, so it’s another point closer to where we want to get to. We wanted three –but it was a good performance, two good games on the bounce, so we can move on.

“The response after the Ipswich game should have been nine points. The manager wants a winning mentality in the dressing room and he certainly made us aware of that at half time at Reading. We need to make the most of these chances.

“That’s one thing the manager’s brought, and it’s brilliant. As a team we’re disappointed not to come away with the three points - we’ve come away with one and we move on.”

Karanka’s side edged the chances in a tentative first half. While the visitors were comfortable and composed, Reading looked the nervier side, and it appeared as though Boro would take a first-half lead when Reach blazed over from point-blank range on 18 minutes.

Reach’s chance came courtesy of some sublime play from Bamford, who skipped through the Royals’ midfield to find Albert Adomah who crossed for the winger; and Bamford almost got on the scoresheet himself when he brought a decent stop from Federici seconds after the Reach chance.

Reading started the second half with the bit between their teeth and went close to taking the lead when Simon Cox brought a save out of Dimi Konstantopoulos from a goalmouth scramble.

Adomah went close with a header from Leadbitter’s free-kick but Federici was more than equal to it, pawing away to safety.

Boro had their chances to win the game late on, Bamford striking the crossbar with a fine effort from distance on 85 minutes, then the best chance of all came from the resultant corner, where the ball fell to Ayala a yard out after another spectacular save by Federici – the Spaniard could only scoop over the bar.

Tomas Kalas made his debut for Karanka’s side after signing on loan from Chelsea, and settled straight into his new team with some decent contributions from a right-back position.

Leadbitter feels that his new teammate will keep everyone on their toes, and as the Championship enters its defining phase where a pack of teams begins to break away, the midfielder feels that a strong squad is essential going forward.

“Tomas came in, looked really good, you can tell he’s international quality,” said Leadbitter, who twice achieved promotion to the top-flight with Sunderland under firstly Mick McCarthy and latterly Roy Keane. “He’ll bring competition to the dressing room, he looks to have settled in from day one and you could see that from his performance.

“We want to keep improving, it’s good to have that competition, the dressing room is freshened up, having good players come into the squad always helps.”

“We’ve got a strong squad, there are players who didn’t travel at the weekend who could have started, everyone is fighting for their places.

“We need that big squad. There’s going to be injuries and suspensions, and players lose form. We need a big squad and when everyone is fighting for their place it helps. It helps to see the experienced guys in the changing room keeping everyone on their toes.”