AN IRATE Chris Wilder made no allowances for his Middlesbrough’s sides first half performance against Queens Park Rangers but criticised the officials for some of their decisions during their second half fightback.

Boro conceded three goals in the first half from with Chris Willock’s long range strike, Jimmy Dunne’s close range finish and Lyndon Dykes header. Matt Crooks header provided a lifeline before the break.

Wilder enforced two changes at the break bringing on Paddy McNair and Chuba Akpom who played their part in a second half fightback as Marcus Forss grabbed his first goal for Boro. But the misgivings of a first half performance dealt too much of a blow for them to recover. However, their cause wasn’t aided by some refereeing decisions, or rather not, that went against Boro.

“First of all, congratulations to Michael for getting his first win at senior level” said Wilder.

“You give good players a hand out in the first half, aided by some ridiculous refereeing decisions, it’s always going to be a difficult afternoon for you.

“The first one, they will look at it as a good goal but we’ve had two or three opportunities to stop that happening. Gave the ball away cheaply and had an opportunity to stop the boy or making a tackle. Good player skips passed them and whacks it in the top corner, I don’t think Zack (Steffen) could do anything about that.

“The second one is ridiculous. A comment by the referee to a member of my staff at half-time is that the goalkeeper has to be stronger. The referee doesn’t have an opinion in terms of coaching or what the keeper needs to do, especially when the keeper is facing towards the corner and the referee puts a hand in his back and pushes him. I don’t see how that can be what the goalkeeper needs to do when somebody pushes him from behind. It’s obviously a disappointing goal from our point of view there.

“The third one, we’ve just not defended well enough. We have a structure in and out of possession but there are times where one on ones or natural defending has to be present and it wasn’t. It was far too easy.

“3-0 up in the first home game of the season. Sun is shining, had a few pints in West London, punters are buzzing, it’s a difficult afternoon.”

As Boro threw caution to the wind in a spirited second half display, Wilder feels that referee Josh Smith missed a number of other key moments in the game.

He continued: “We got ourselves back in just before half-time and I think we totally dominated the second half for 20-25 minutes and we should have got ourselves back in really and should have got ourselves back on level terms but I thought QPR managed the game very well despite an incredible penalty situation that I’ve been told is not a penalty now.

“When the kid comes in, basically sticks both hands up and saves it. There are 2,400 Boro fans who put their hands up and we do the same but the rules have changed, yet again.

“The game management from QPR was excellent but we’ve been told through a memo that the referees and the officials are going to clamp down on that and not add it on at the end. Brandish a yellow card to speed everybody up. I’m just saying it from an honest point of view.

“Michael will be delighted with his team and them getting their first three points of the season but I can’t come in here and not tell you what my thought process is on that.

“There was systematic booing of Izzy Jones that never got dealt with by the referee. Some of the things he’s come out with when I’ve gone to see and I’ve waited half an hour to see him! ‘The ball wasn’t in control and it was already past him’. I said ‘the ball might as well have been in Mayfair, it’s still a yellow card’ but I don’t think he got my sarcasm regarding the situation.”

While he feels as though the luck was not with his side today, Wilder gave full credit to his opponents for the way they saw the game out and took the three points. The Boro boss finished with: “Take nothing away from Michael. They’ve got some excellent players. When you give good players and an excellent manager a 3-0 head start, it’s always going to be a difficult afternoon.”

Boro now have four days to prepare for their next game which comes against League One Barnsley in the EFL Cup.