FOR Chris Wilder, it felt like it was the same old story on the road as Middlesbrough’s bad habits crept in leading to another away defeat, this time at the hands of Coventry City.

Viktor Gyokeres was the difference between the two sides as he produced a man of the match display and scored the only goal of the game in the second half.

Boro felt their way back into the game in the second half and provided moments of pressure but failed to find a way through with the Sky Blues standing firm to take all three points.

“Just exactly the same as every away game we’ve had this season” said a furstrated Boro boss. “A typical Championship game with nothing in it. They made a bright start and we expected that because of them not playing at home and the enthusiasm around the ground because of the situation here. I thought we weathered that first ten to 15 minutes, which you have to away at most Championship clubs.”

For the goal itself, the manager bemoaned poor defending and handling of possession that led to the goal but lauded the performance of the Swedish striker Gyokeres as he continued: “I thought we were starting to get a foothold in the game before the goal, which is yet again, small and minor details. We had three throws on the left-hand side in quick succession and have every one away. Then the third one they counter, one ball - and we talked about one ball before the game because of the threat of Godden and most importantly Gyokeres running down the sides.

“One of my centre-halves (Anfernee Dijksteel), who is the quickest centre half in the club, has tried to play offside. I’m left scratching my head. The level of attention and detail that goes into video analysis - we watched a lot of Coventry ahead of the game - and the main threat is Gyokeres who I thought was outstanding and the best player on the pitch.

“It was a good battle between him and Dael (Fry). But what you can’t do, which we did, is step up on the halfway line to him because he’ll punish you and he did punish us.”

After Boro fell behind, the pressurised the Coventry goal as they looked to salvage a point or more from the game in an attempt to recover their faltering season. However, it was another toothless performance that meant they left with nothing.

The Boro boss added: “Then we’re chasing again. I thought for the next 20 minutes we got a foothold in the game we felt we were in ascendancy. Then, in the second half, whether they sat in or we pinned them back, which is my opinion, that was the case and yet again it was small details - final run, pass, cross, finish… we got into so many good positions to get something out of the game.

“In the 94th minute, Crooks runs through on the right and all he has to do is stay on his feet and square it to Rodrigo for an open-goal tap-in. He falls over and it’s chance gone. It was stuff like that all afternoon.

“For me it was a typical Championship game with nothing in it, as has been the case for most of our away games. You’re left feeling you could have quite easily got something from the game, but we didn’t and we have to accept that.”

Boro are feeling the pressure of falling well below expectation as they remain in the bottom three after today’s result. With Wilder and his players back in action on Wednesday evening against Birmingham City, he admits he has to pick the squad up off the floor.

The 55-year-old added: “There’s no doubt about it, confidence is low right now. When you don’t win games of football, any team would feel that a little bit. I’ve got to say, I thought they accepted responsibility second half and stood up to the challenge. When you don’t get results that your performances deserve, you do lose momentum and you do lose a bit of confidence. You can see that.

“I’m by no means wanting to suggest we’re a free-flowing football team at the minute, but I did think we did enough today to get a result. Mark (Robins) might think about a different, but I think ultimately Gyokeres was the only difference in the result. Definitely second half, we just needed to find that moment of quality. We had enough territory and opportunities, but always knowing the big man at the top of the pitch was a threat from counter attacks. You can see why he’s so highly rated.”