A BITTERLY disappointed Chris Wilder has challenged his Middlesbrough players to prove they are better than they showed in last night’s 4-1 defeat at Sheffield United.

Wilder’s return to Bramall Lane turned out to be a chastening experience as his side crashed to their heaviest of the season and tumbled out of the play-off positions.

The concession of two goals in three first-half minutes put the Teessiders on the back foot, with Sheffield United adding two further goals after the interval through Jack Robinson and Morgan Gibbs-White.

Boro have now picked up just one point from their last five away games, with Wilder admitting that last night’s performance was by far their worst under his control.

“People have to decide,” said the Boro boss. “This was a big game tonight, and if people want to play in big games, they’ve got to stick their chest out and play. It’s pretty simplistic really. You’ve got to be a player – and I didn’t have one player out there.

“We got dominated from one to 11, right the way through. We didn’t have one player where you could say they came out of it with a positive. You couldn’t say, ‘He was okay’ or ‘he did alright’. There wasn’t one.

“We created a couple of chances and should have scored at 2-0, but that wouldn’t have changed the dynamic of the game. Even our goal was a gimme from Sheffield United’s point of view. We didn’t have any part of the game. We couldn’t get a foothold and got dominated.

“We’ll take it on the chin, but the players have to reflect on their own performances, just like we’ll reflect on what we’ve done.”

One week previously, Boro had been seeing off Tottenham in the fifth round of the FA Cup, and Wilder had not sensed any cause for concern in the build-up to last night’s game.

“The mood in the camp was good,” he said. “You get a feel for what your team’s about and where they are. You can sense if they’re over-confident or a bit complacent, but I have to say, I never saw that at all.

“I didn’t see it coming. We made it so easy for them. We’ve gone from being at such a high level in terms of how we played against Spurs to this. We were miles off it in every department.”

Wilder was making his first managerial return to Bramall Lane since leaving his position as Sheffield United manager last March, and was given an extremely warm reception when he left the tunnel prior to kick off.

“It was great,” he said. “Maybe when it’s all finished, and I finish my career, I might walk down the road, have a beer, meet my pals and come to a game or two. But I’m a professional and my career’s my career. I had a journey here, but I want to start a new journey with Middlesbrough.”