Strachan - Not good enough

Boro boss believes match-winning goal was offside

Last updated: 6th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Strachan - Not good enough

Strachan: Less than impressed

The crowd were behind the players today and both deserve the plaudits for a tremendous victory.

Dave Jones
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Middlesbrough boss Gordon Strachan admitted his side "just weren't good enough" after watching their play-off hopes take a blow with defeat at Cardiff.

A close-range strike by Jay Bothroyd in the third minute was enough to give the Bluebirds a welcome 1-0 victory at the Cardiff City Stadium.

But Boro manager Strachan was unhappy that the goal was allowed to stand, even though he admitted his side were well below par.

"We felt that Bothroyd was offside when he scored, but we were unable to take our chances," he said.

"We have played a lot worse than that this season and won games, but it is still very disappointing.

"The referee claimed that Leroy Lita had handled just before we had a goal disallowed, but we also thought Bothroyd was offside when he scored.

"Hopefully the play-off race will go to the wire which will help us to get right in there, but today we just weren't good enough."

Brilliant

The Boro defence stood still when Gabor Gyepes prodded a loose ball towards goal and Bothroyd was unmarked at the far post to steer the ball over the line.

Middlesbrough did have the ball in the net on the hour through David Wheater, but the goal was disallowed and both Lita and Boro skipper Barry Robson were booked for their over-zealous protesting.

Robson forced a brilliant one-handed save from David Marshall as the Bluebirds hung on to their lead and the goalkeeper was again in action in the closing minutes to tip over a close-range header from substitute Chris Killen.

"If we had lost it would have meant we were out of the top six so that makes victory even better," said Cardiff manager Dave Jones.

"They only had two players from the side we beat up there which shows the massive changes they have been able to make.

"The crowd were behind the players today and both deserve the plaudits for a tremendous victory.

"There is a lot of unity in this club and it was shown out there on the pitch because if you do the hard work, you get the reward.

"We were so stretched today that I had four injured players on the bench. None of them were fit enough to go on."

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