In his own words: Phil Parkinson post-Middlesbrough

Second half goals from Martin Braithwaite and Britt Assombalonga saw Wanderers slip to a Boxing Day defeat against Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium.

And speaking after the final whistle, manager Phil Parkinson covered the following points...

On the game as a whole...

First half, I felt we were right in the game. We played with a real discipline in our approach, and then we were just disappointed with how we started the second half.

Two lapses of concentration have ultimately cost us. Admittedly, we've come up against two top-class strikers who have put their opportunities away, whereas strikers of less ability might not have scored.

Equally, we feel that we should have done better with both goals - we knew that we had to start the second half focused and we didn't quite do that.

We could feel that their crowd were getting nervous and thought we could take advantage of that, but unfortunately it didn't happen for us today.

On small lapses of concentration costing the team dearly...

It was very much a case of that today. For the first goal, it took a horrible deflection off David Wheater which took it beyond Ben which is hugely disappointing for us, but with every goal, you know you can always do better.

Against Cardiff at the weekend, we showed exactly what we're capable of when we're focused for the entire 90 minutes.

We know we are capable of getting results from difficult games, but we just need to be consistent.

We always talk about key moments in games and the first goal was definitely one for us today.

Sometimes they go for you and sometimes they don't, but we need to put it behind us quickly and move onto Sheffield United.

And finally, on the quick turnaround and the opportunity to bounce back at Bramall Lane on Saturday...

We knew that the Christmas schedule would be tough and we prepared beforehand to ensure that we're in the best possible position for every game.

We have players who weren't involved today who are raring to go, so we've now got decisions to make as we head to Bramall Lane at the weekend and then into our home game against Hull to make sure that we pick the best team possible for those two matches.

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