CHRIS Wilder made clear of his intentions to make the Riverside Stadium a ruthless place to come for opposition teams. His opening game on home soil saw his Boro side draw 1-1 against a combative Millwall side with Wilder’s side up for the battle.

The new manager felt his side should have come away with more from the game and there were a number of controversial incidents that led to the Lions equaliser. But it’s a star that Wilder will see things to pick up from.

In his quest to make the Riverside a fortress, he gets the chance to do battle on home soil in two days time when Preston make the trip to Teesside.

Part of the remit for Wilder and his players is to make the ground a horrible place to come without giving the opposition a glimmer of hope once they’ve stepped into the ground. However, he recognises that may take some a while to get there.

“It’s going to be challenging” Wilder said.

“I think one of the things we’ve talked about is making it a difficult place to come and play football. Whether they are up against the team or they are up against the environment and the atmosphere.

“As I’ve said, I wasn’t being disrespectful to anything. There is a line and there is a respect line, of course we live in that world and that era and we don’t want it to overstep that mark but I want it to be uncomfortable for everybody that comes to the Riverside.

“I want it to be uncomfortable for players, managers, for everybody connected to the opposition, I want it to be a tough place to come and we’ll only do that if we produce the goods on the pitch and we’ll get there.

“It might take a little bit of time but we’ll get there and it will be a difficult place to come.

“In experience, sometimes the bigger clubs, the fabulous stadiums maybe at times don’t do the football club any favours at times because sometimes it’s a little too easy to come and get results.

“Well that’s part of the remit and part of something that I need to address and making sure that we have a solid home record.

“Of course you have to pick up results on the road to be successful but to have that home record, really strong, is something that we are looking to do.”

Yesterday’s draw with Millwall means Boro remain in 14th place in the Championship but the gap to the play-offs is now at six points.