THE domestic season may be over but Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren's work starts here.

After bringing the curtain down on his first season in charge at the Riverside with a 1-0 defeat at Leeds United, McClaren admits his task now is to make sure his side build on what they have achieved over the past nine months.

Boro know they will be playing Premiership football when the action kicks-off again in August and they reached an FA Cup semi-final for only the second time in their history last month.

McClaren, who is part of England's coaching staff at the World Cup, has transformed the Teessiders into a side who are tough to breakdown and it showed again at Elland Road on Saturday. But, while Gareth Southgate and Co stood relatively firm at the back, chances were squandered at the other end and it left their boss with further evidence of where he must improve his squad. And McClaren, who is hot on the trail of Derby front-man Malcolm Christie and South African striker Benni McCarthy, admits they need to strengthen their attacking options during the close-season.

"We know what we need to focus on in the summer and we need to add to our squad," said the former Manchester United No 2.

"We need to add quality and then we will score the goals that will win us football matches like at Elland Road - you have to take the few that come your way.

"If you speak to any manager now they will know which players they want. The good thing in the past four games for us is that it's just highlighted our weaknesses and where we need to improve." McClaren is hoping to add a couple of big money buys to his squad but he insists he will be making sure he does not overspend.

"We have been discussing that with the chairman. I have a list of players I want and we will discuss it," said the Boro chief, who is also hoping to sign Leicester's Muzzy Izzet.

"We will see if we can get the available players within our budget. We have shown we are running a tighter ship, which I'm all for, that's the only way forward for this football club.

"We've created something here but we need to move on - we've reached base one, now we need to reach base two."

McClaren's men may have achieved 'base one' but their fourth consecutive League defeat ensured his first campaign in charge finished exactly how it started.

Back in August, Boro lost their opening four matches - to Arsenal, Bolton, Everton and Newcastle - to give the England coach an indication of how hard his first managerial task was going to be.

But McClaren stuck to his guns and built his side from the back with a solid defensive four forming the basis for a New Year resurgence.

A fantastic run of form saw Boro rise from bottom of the League to ninth and they looked like they would be able to claim their highest ever Premiership finish of eighth.

However, after the semi-final defeat to Arsenal at Old Trafford, defeats to Blackburn, Ipswich, Chelsea and now Leeds has seen Boro drop to 12th.

And McClaren, whose side created more than enough chances to claim all three points at Leeds, admitted afterwards that the end of season dip in form was frustrating.

He said: "I'm very disappointed. We survived the early stages of the game and once we got over that we went in 0-0 at half-time.

"In the second half we had a few efforts but we just lacked that quality, final ball and quality of finishing which Leeds United had and that's why they've won."

With nothing riding on the game between Boro and Leeds but pride, many could be forgiven for just keeping their fingers crossed that the England jinx did not strike again.

Southgate, Rio Ferdinand and Nigel Martyn have all been named in Sven Goran Eriksson's squad for the World Cup and all three came through the 90 minutes unscathed.

The trio had steady games and it was the Boro star who was the busiest in the early exchanges as Leeds pushed forward.

Harry Kewell, Robbie Keane, Dominic Matteo and Alan Smith all had efforts on goal for the hosts but Boro escaped and went in at half-time level.

After the interval the visitors forced three successive corners but Martyn was not troubled and Leeds, without Mark Viduka and Robbie Fowler, made their opponents pay on 63 minutes.

It came when Whites' striker Smith latched on to a superb Keane overhead pass and volleyed past Mark Schwarzer after bringing the ball down on his chest. After that Boro should have found the net on more than one occasion.

But Noel Whelan missed the target from close range and Szilard Nemeth's shot was well saved by Martyn after the Slovakian combined superbly with his strike partner Whelan.

It was little wonder McClaren was left to rue those missed opportunities and now, after sending Benito Carbone back to Bradford, the Riverside chief is understandably hoping to strengthen his attacking options.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.