STAGGERED Michael Carrick couldn't believe his side were denied a "blatant" second half penalty at Rotherham, and although he didn't pin the defeat at the New York Stadium on the decision, the Middlesbrough head coach described the incident as a "massive moment".

With the game goalless, Alex Bangura was wiped out in the Rotherham penalty area by home defender Hakeem Odoffin but referee Andrew Kitching waved away the claims, to the astonishment of Boro's players, coaching team and fans.

Boro's frustration deepened soon after when defender Cohen Bramall scored a freak winner when his cross from the left caught Tom Glover out and found the net. It was Rotherham's only effort on target and secured just a third win of the season for the Championship's bottom side - and the result and the penalty decision left Carrick bewildered.

"I’m just baffled, to be honest," he said of the penalty rejection.

"I don’t like criticising referees and they obviously have a tough job. But that’s not even a tussle or a slight trip. It’s blatant he just takes him out.

"Alex has got all the momentum, going past him, and for the life of me I just can’t understand how that’s not given. It’s a massive moment and the less I say about it the better, probably."

Asked whether he'd spoken to Kitching and tried to get an explanation for why the penalty wasn't given, Carrick said: “It’s pointless really. What’s he going to say? His reasons or not, I’m not going to agree with it.

"We call all see how clear as day it was. But listen, I can’t blame that on the result today because we didn’t score in the end and we created more than enough to score. When you don’t get a decision as obvious as that though, it’s just crazy."

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Boro had 19 shots on goal against Rotherham but couldn't force a breakthrough. Sam Greenwood hit the bar in the first half and had two more good chances, Isaiah Jones spurned opportunities and substitute Riley McGree hit the post late on.

Carrick said: “Can you explain that one to me please!? I think that’s the first time I’ve ever not conceded a shot on target and lost a game. Sometimes we’ve played well or at least felt we’ve played well enough to get something from the game when we’ve not.

"There are moments in those games where you then look and think we didn’t defend that well enough or we should do better in that situation. Today it’s very difficult to be critical of the boys after that.

"We limited them to next to nothing, controlled it. The other side of it is the chances we created and the opportunities we had. You’ve got to score to win a game and on another day we will do that, but it can be a strange game at times."