MIDDLESBROUGH manager Chris Wilder has explained his decision making behind leaving Isaiah Jones and Ryan Giles on the bench for their 1-0 defeat to Coventry City.

After starting every game this season in the Championship, Jones and Giles were amongst the substitutes in what was a selection call that caught many fans out. However, the pair were thrown on in the second half with Boro chasing down a one goal lead.

Tommy Smith and Marc Bola started in their place but could not prevent another defeat that compounds Boro’s difficult start to the season with Viktor Gyokeres scoring the only goal of the game.

The Boro boss was keen to quash any speculation about their involvement and explained that he Coventry’s attacking threat at the forefront of his thinking when picking his team for the game.

Wilder told the media: “You don’t always know everything that goes off at a football club. I don’t mean that controversially. We look and we try and pick the best possible team. I’m certainly not going to give myself a handicap, especially at this moment.

“We thought that the right way to go about it was come here and be nice and strong and solid and get a foothold in the game. Especially with our current away record, we needed to do something knowing that after 60 minutes, if we needed to take the game away from the opposition, we had those two to come on.

“The thing is, they are wingers. Let’s not forget about that. They’re really, unbelievably forward-thinking players and our away record is not that good. So I thought if we could get ahead in the game and then they’re coming on, or if we had to chase it which we were, we had two players there that can help us out.

“That was my decision. Obviously, you don’t see total transparency either. But that’s not being controversial and all of a sudden things have gone off that causes speculation.”

Jones picked up his fifth booking of the season meaning he is suspended for Boro’s Championship game against Birmingham City on Wednesday.

Their defeat at the CBS Stadium leaves them in the Championship relegation zone.