Luke Ayling's Middlesbrough promise amid style of play concerns after Sunderland loss
Luke Ayling has promised Middlesbrough fans that they will work as hard as possible in the days ahead to find the solutions to their problems and put things right after a hurtful loss to Sunderland.
Boro lost 1-0 at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, in a game that Ayling admits about sums up their season so far. Establishing an early level of control in the game, they ultimately missed their chances and were punished when Chris Rigg put the home side 1-0 up.
With the Black Cats increasingly retreating after that, Boro struggled to break down another low block defence and returned to Teesside empty-handed having only managed one shot on target over the course of the whole 90 minutes. With the defensive leader also taking responsibility for the Sunderland goal, Ayling fronted up after the defeat and had a defiant promise for Boro fans.
READ MORE: Why Michael Carrick retains faith in his misfiring Middlesbrough attack and his style of play
SIGN UP: Middlesbrough FC news straight to your phone on WhatsApp
He told BBC Tees Sport: "The game we played first half was really good. We got in some really good positions and had some good chances before the goal. We could have been 1-0 up, then the game changes. It's a sloppy goal, a bad touch from me then it escalates. Then we're fighting to get back into the game.
"I just didn't think we got into game in the second half. They played really well, slowed the game down when they needed to. They have some good players. We were too slow with the ball. Just in our first six games we've seen a pattern in how teams are playing against us.
"That's great for us because it shows we're playing good football and we have a style of play and teams are realising if they come and play they might get beat. But we have to find a way to score first and kick on and score a second and third. We're getting into the right places, making good chances but not quite killing teams off at the minute, which hopefully will come.
"Moments change games. We're playing well, we're playing our style of football and it's going all right so far. It still hurts us. We know how much the Sunderland game meant to the fans, we tried our best to win the game. I thought in the first half we'd done enough to go in level or ahead. We're happy with how we're playing, we just have to find that final instinct to score goals and put teams away.
"Today is a bad day at the office but it's just one game out of 46. We’re only six games in, we’ve got 40 games left and this result won’t define our season. We’ve got three games next week to put it right, we’ll work hard and try as best we can to have a good week next week."
Boro are next in action on Saturday when they host Stoke City at the Riverside. They then face two tricky away games next week as they travel to West Brom and Watford before the second international break of the season. They'll be hoping to carry more positive momentum into that one, with the last two games proving rather deflating.