CHRIS Wilder feels the luck is not with his Middlesbrough side at the moment but that his 'biggest job' is to keep them believing in the way they are playing. 

A dominant Boro side walked away from Stoke City with a point after they conceded a stoppage time equaliser through D-Magio Wright-Phillips as they drew 2-2 with the Potters.

Boro's are without a win this season but the feeling is that the results haven't married up with the performance. Wilder said: “We can look at ourselves. We’ve not just smashed it and hoped for a second ball, a corner, a header. I think everybody has seen the game tonight has seen that it is a well coached team.

“The way we play in and out of possession, the chances we created, our goals were great from our point of view, we’ve played out from the back, we’ve played long when we’ve had to turn them, we’ve moved the ball across the pitch and totally dominated a good team. 

“I didn’t think they had any answer but the one that hurts you is that you didn’t get the result. I’d rather play in the way we are playing and I believe we will pick up wins and we will get what we deserve if we keep going."

On the game itself, Boro had dictated most facets of the game and looked in cruise control but were pegged back through a controversial goal. Isaiah Jones looked to have been fouled in the build up by Jordan Thompson but referee Michael Salisbury waved play on as Dwight Gayle put the chance on a plate for Jacob Brown to finish. 

The official put his hands up for his part in the opening goal as Wilder explained: “I believed he was (fouled). Our analyst upstairs believed he was. The referee apologised at half-time so I don’t know where that’s come from or whether somebody has got in his ear but that’s honest of him to do that."

But Boro rallied back and took the game by the scruff of the neck. Duncan Watmore's smart finish in the box levelled things before Phil Jagielka diverted through his own net to reward Boro's persistence in the second half. 

Some might accuse Boro of not killing the game off but the feeling was that Stoke's equalising goal was a bolt out of the blue as Michael O'Neil's side rarely threatened throughout the evening. 

The Boro boss added: “I know if my team had of took that slight bit of praise for hanging on in there and finding a cross that gets you something from a game where you’ve been absolutely mullered.

“I’m a balance guy in terms of stats but I never felt one bit of pressure all night. You expect it in the Championship when you come away to a big club which Stoke are but I think the most ardent Stoke supporters would say ‘how have we not got beat there?’.

“We can look at ourselves and say ‘how have we not put them to bed?’. We’ve done more than enough. I’ve been in the Championship a few years and I don’t think I’ve ever come away and dominated to the extent that we dominated tonight."

With a trip to Reading this weekend, Boro will have to lift themselves from last night's late blow in Staffordshire. Wilder aims to do that as he continued: “The biggest job for me now is to get those players off the floor because they are quite low at the moment.

They know especially from the last two games that they’ve done more than enough to pick up two points and maybe over the last four games done more than enough to pick up three points. 
“My biggest job is to keep them believing, keep working with them, cutting out silly mistakes and putting team to bed. Then we start climbing the table and getting the wins we feel we can get."