HAVING endured a defeat at his former club Sunderland that leaves Middlesbrough teetering on the verge of a crisis, an honest talking Julio Arca has cited frequent dips in the levels of concentration as a major reason for the Teesside outfit's failings this season.

Not for the first time since last August, Arca was left dismayed by a late killer goal that prevented Boro from claiming a much-needed result at the Stadium of Light.

When Daryl Murphy rose to glance an injury-time winner into the Middlesbrough net, it brought back memories of former late, late horror shows in the Premier League this season.

On the opening day, Matt Derbyshire grabbed a winner for Blackburn 11 minutes from time at the Riverside Stadium. While it was the visit of Sunderland in September that Liam Miller struck a last minute equaliser to prevent Boro from claiming maximum points.

Then Gareth Southgate's men buckled under intense Arsenal pressure at the Emirates by allowing Kolo Toure to grab a late leveller, while both Scott Parker (West Ham) and James Harper (Reading) have found the net in the final stages to inflict defeat on Middlesbrough this season.

And while Southgate's players are learning to deal with such dejection, it is not getting any easier.

"It hurts. It's so disappointing.

We started well, scored and gave it away, worked really hard to get an equaliser before conceding again. We only have ourselves to blame," said Arca.

"It's our fault again, losing concentration again. It has happened a lot recently. That's why we are so angry and disappointed.

We should concentrate right up to the last minute. There's nothing we can do about it now, we have to look to Portsmouth and hope everything will be alright.

"We have switched off in too many games, like we did against Bolton last week after playing well, and conceded too many poor goals and most of that is down to a lack of concentration."

With Middlesbrough sitting four points clear of the relegation zone with two matches to play, there is every chance Southgate's men have already done enough to stay up.

The dressing room, however, is in no mood for complacency -particularly given their poor record at the Riverside Stadium this season.

Only Derby and Fulham - two clubs seemingly destined for the Championship - have worse records on home soil than Middlesbrough, who have won five and lost seven of their 17 games on Teesside soil.

"We are not safe. We can't afford to think we are. We need to win," said Arca, knowing one win from either of the visits of Portsmouth and Manchester City will keep them up.

"We can't worry about everyone else. After the games you want to find out about everyone else's result, but that doesn't matter. We just have to go out and win. This is the point where you have to show how strong you are.

"People will expect us to go out and win and we have to make sure we go out and do that. It's hard to explain why we are down there."

Southgate echoed Arca's words, but he did try to demand a full house at the Riverside Stadium for the next two matches in the hope that a vociferous crowd could act as spur to a team that has played in front of thousands of empty seats regularly.

"We have to make it an advantage for us as a club - fans, staff and players alike," said Southgate.

"They are two teams that are capable on their day of getting results, so we have a big challenge ahead of us.

"This is not the stage for us to be falling out of love with each other.

"We've stuck together as a club throughout the season through any number of knock backs like this.

"Local derbies are always more painful games to lose, but to lose it in the last minute has just hurt everybody that little bit more.

"There are lots of players that will learn a lot about themselves in the coming days and the next couple of weeks. That's football, and that's what makes it the game it is.

"It drags you through all sorts of emotions. Dealing with those emotions, for the teams in the bottom half of the table, is the biggest test throughout the season."