Middlesbrough boss Strachan fumes at misfiring strikers

Gordon Strachan has told Middlesbrough's misfiring strikers the only way they can blame bad luck is if a dog runs onto the pitch and stops their shot.

The Boro boss saw his frontmen squander a host of chances during the defeat to Crystal Palace at the weekend, with Leroy Lita missing the best.

Strachan said: "Unlucky doesn’t come into it. When the ball is going into the net and a dog runs onto the pitch and stops it, that’s unlucky.

"When you have chances in a game and don’t take them, you have a problem. We had a fantastic number of opportunities to cause danger."

Marcus Bent missed at a great chance and Gary O’Neil and Jonathan Franks could also have scored.

Strachan added: “When you have a four-against-one situation and you don’t score a goal at the end of it, that’s nothing to do with luck. It was surreal.

"If you go through a game like that and end up with one point that is still going to hurt.

"It was frustrating, as it was last week. It’s frustrating for me, it must be frustrating for the players and the supporters who came to watch the game. It’s more frustrating for the supporters."