AN angry Gareth Southgate last night refused to make excuses for Middlesbrough's 3-0 defeat to Birmingham City, and claimed his players had "let themselves down" at St Andrew's.

Stewart Downing's own goal sparked a first-half collapse that saw Mikael Forssell double Birmingham's lead on the stroke of half-time.

Boro's tenth Premier League defeat of the season was confirmed when Gary McSheffrey scored from the penalty spot in second-half stoppage-time.

The reverse followed hot on the heels of last Saturday's home defeat by West Ham, and undid much of the good work from this month's victories over Arsenal and Derby.

Southgate was quick to warn against reading too much into the 2-1 win over the Gunners, and claimed that yesterday's disappointment confirmed how far the Teessiders still have to progress in the second half of the season.

"Some people claimed we had turned the corner after the win against Arsenal, but I knew we hadn't and the evidence was there to see," said the Boro boss.

"We didn't deserve anything out of the game because we didn't play well enough collectively.

"It's a strange scoreline given that they didn't create too much in terms of clear-cut chances in front of goal, and we created a few opportunities in the second half. But we weren't good enough on the day.

"I thought the game was there to be won when I saw how they started, but I didn't think we were particularly sharp either.

We were second to too many things and didn't perform at the level we needed to.''

"We've spoken about it in the dressing room and we know that it wasn't good enough. I feel that we've let ourselves down."

Boro enjoyed the bulk of possession at St Andrew's, but neither Tuncay Sanli nor Jeremie Aliadiere looked like beating Maik Taylor in the Birmingham goal.

Southgate is expected to sign at least one new striker when the transfer window opens next month - possibly on a loan basis - but while the Boro boss admits he has effectively lost three strikers since the end of last season, he claims that a lack of firepower is an inadequate excuse for yesterday's dismal display.

"We know the situation that we're in," he said.

"We've lost three strikers in a sense - the two we lost in the summer, and Mido as well.

There's a lot of experience gone from that area of the field, but I still feel that as a team, we should have performed better.

"At half-time, we felt that if we got one back, 2-0 could have been a dangerous lead. But we weren't able to do that.

"Whenever goals are conceded and games are lost, there are hundreds of things that could have been done better. We've talked about them in the dressing room, but overall I thought we were poor."

Southgate will attempt to rally his troops ahead of Saturday's game with Portsmouth but, with skipper George Boateng suspended for the trip to Fratton Park, Aliadiere and David Wheater, both substituted at St Andrew's, have emerged as injury doubts.

"David was ill in the run-up to the game and Jeremie was complaining of a tight hamstring,"

said Southgate.

"We couldn't really take any chances with either of them, and they'll both have to be assessed before the weekend."