STEVE McCLAREN admitted Franck Queudrue's sending off yesterday cost his side the game. The Middlesbrough manager was fuming after his French full-back was dismissed by referee Phil Dowd for a lunge on Spurs defender Noe Pamarot five minutes before half-time.

McClaren believes the tackle didn't warrant a red card, with Queudrue's dismissal was his sixth in four seasons on Teesside.

McClaren said: "The first half hour we were in control and dominated to such an extent that I thought there was only going to be one winner.

"It was a rash challenge (by Queudrue) and it was a bad tackle. Had there been a bit of niggling and animosity between the players before that then I could've understood it. But it must have been an easy game to referee and there was hardly a challenge.

"We were controlling things and playing some great football out there. The decision by the referee I felt was made too quickly. He didn't have to make it that quickly and in that respect, as a spectacle, it spoilt the game.

"I know it is very difficult for referees and they have to make split-second decisions but in that incident he didn't have to make it instantly. It was the first bad tackle of the game and I didn't think it warranted a red card, a yellow would have cooled everyone down but instead it has cost us the game. I will be appealing against it."

Despite the game at White Hart Lane being Boro's third in a week, the visitors looked fresh and were full of running from the first whistle to the last. McClaren admitted he was worried how his players were going to react after such a busy schedule but says his fears were allayed and he was delighted with their performance.

"You're always worried about your third game in a week, and the energy of the players; but I thought they were absolutely terrific throughout the game," he said. "I think if we had 11 players on the pitch we would have won.

"If anyone had witnessed the first half hour, we looked a very good team and I still fancied us even with ten men on the pitch to get something out of the game, but we've had two bad moments and they've cost us.

"Some days you get away with two bad moments but we didn't."

McClaren defended his decision to leave both Mark Viduka and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink on the pitch when Boro were a man down. Many managers would have just tried to shut up shop and clung on for a draw but McClaren felt the game was there for the taking.

He said: "When you go down to ten men you have to make sure you defend what you've got, but I think the way we were playing, the nervousness of Spurs, and the crowd, we still thought we could go forward and attack, and we still felt that right until the end."

A Mark Schwarzer gaffe handed Spurs their second goal but the Boro boss absolved his keeper of any blame.

He said: "Mark is one of the best distributors in the Premier League and you saw that today, his kicking has been fine."

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