Strachan bemoans missed chances

Warnock hails match-winner Ambrose after victory

Last updated: 7th November 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Strachan bemoans missed chances

Strachan: Not blaming bad luck

Related links

Teams

Also see

Gordon Strachan fears Middlesbrough 'have a problem' after wasting chances in a 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace, whose boss Neil Warnock praised goalscorer Darren Ambrose.

Boro's Scottish manager is still looking for a first point and a goal after recently succeeding the sacked Gareth Southgate.

Strachan saw loanee Marcus Bent, making his full debut, and strike partner Leroy Lita miss a host of opportunities and he was not impressed.

Ambrose won the game with a 65th minute goal at Selhurst Park and Boro's manager is not prepared to blame bad luck after losing to Plymouth in his first game.

"When you have chances like that and you don't take them you have a problem, luck has nothing to do with it," said Strachan.

Frustrating

"It's frustrating, just like last week against Plymouth when our best player, Adam Johnson, missed a penalty.

"It's frustrating for me, it's frustrating for the players who work so hard and it's frustrating for the fans."

Warnock said of Ambrose, who has now scored 10 goals since arriving as a free agent after being released by Charlton in the summer: "I was so pleased it (the match-winning chance) fell to him.

"It's not my fault someone gave him away. I bid £1.5million for him once - that's how much I rate him.

"He needs a certain type of manager and we make a good pairing. But I think we had 11 stars out there today."