A HUGELY-FRUSTRATED Michael Carrick feels his Middlesbrough side lost to a goal that should have been disallowed as they were beaten by Blackburn Rovers at the Riverside this evening.

Blackburn defender Dom Hyam scored the only goal of the game in the 77th minute as he slid ahead of Neto Borges to convert Todd Cantwell’s cross from the left of the penalty area.

However, replays show Hyam was clearly offside when Cantwell delivered the ball across the area, yet the goal was allowed to stand.

Carrick accepts his side were not at their best after scoring 15 goals in their previous three matches, but the Boro boss was still left fuming about the failure to rule out Hyam’s strike.

“We weren’t at our best, but we’ve ended up losing the game to a goal that’s not a goal,” said the Boro boss. “It was offside. There’s nothing much else to say, it’s clearly offside. It’s pretty obvious, but the less said the better probably from my point of view.

“A point would have been a point really. We had a few opportunities, half-chances really. Manu (Emmanuel Latte Lath) had a header, Neto (Borges) has had a header and Ben’s (Doak) hit the post. We just couldn’t quite find that answer.”

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Boro started reasonably brightly in the opening quarter-of-an-hour, but seemed to lose their way when a series of lengthy stoppages culminated in Riley McGree being forced off with an injury.

“I thought we had a bit of flow at the start of the game, and started okay, but then it was a bit stop-start and the game sort of slowed down really,” said Carrick. “We couldn’t quite find that spark.

“It didn’t really suit us because we were trying to create and make something happen, but it ended up just drifting a bit. It wasn’t for the want of trying, the boys wanted to try, it just didn’t quite have that moment or that little something different we were after.

“A point would have been a point and we would have moved on, but with the way the goal went in, and with us ending up losing the game, it’s pretty hard to take really.”

Boro had won their three matches prior to this evening’s game, and while their winning run is now over, they remain in the play-off places ahead of Saturday’s home game with a Hull side who are managerless after the dismissal of Tim Walter earlier today.

“It was going to come at some point,” said Carrick. “You couldn’t keep scoring goals at the rate we were. Some of the football we’ve been playing has been really, really good, and this won’t knock us too much. It’s one of those games that happen. It could have been a draw and should have been a draw. It is what it is.”