MICHAEL CARRICK admits his Middlesbrough side fell below the standards they were setting during their seven-game winning run as they crashed to a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Stoke City.

Boro suffered a first loss since mid-September as first-half goals from Michael Rose and Mehdi Leris proved decisive at the Riverside.

Josh Coburn struck the crossbar with a shot towards the end of the first half, and also had another decent long-range effort saved by Jack Bonham, but too many Boro players were below-par as they suffered a deserved loss.

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Carrick conceded his side had under-performed, but was loath to be too critical of his players given their efforts in the last month-and-a-half, when they surged into the top half of the table.

The Boro boss said: “It’s disappointing. You’ve got to put things into perspective as well though. They (Stoke) are a good team, and if you are little bit off it then you get punished in this league.

“It just shows the levels that it does take to win games and look like you’re winning well. We were just a little bit off it really, from the start you could just feel we weren’t quite there. Even then, at half-time, I thought we finished the half well enough where there was enough in it there to have a real good go in the second half.

“It just didn’t really materialise in the end. There were a couple of chances, a couple of opportunities, but to be fair, I give them a lot of credit. They set up in a shape and pressed to close the spaces down really well.

“They looked dangerous on the break too. So, sometimes, you’ve just got to hold your hands up and say, ‘We just weren’t quite at it today’. There’s no need to overthink it or overkill it. It is what it is - and we move on pretty quickly.”

The manner of Boro’s opening concession was especially disappointing, with Matt Crooks failing to track Rose’s run and Seny Dieng failing to keep the ball out despite getting a strong hand to the ball.

Carrick said: “Obviously, the first goal is a soft one, but nevertheless, the feeling was we just weren’t quite at it to create something and get a spark.

“I can’t fault them for effort or trying to do the right things. It was just one of those days in the end.”