GORDON STRACHAN was left fuming after a refereeing decision robbed his side of what looked a perfectly good equaliser - but he was equally unhappy with Boro's start to the game.

The vital goal came from Jay Boothroyd just two minutes into the game and although there was initially a suspicion of offside, replays suggested the officials were right on that occasion.

However, Boro produced a much better second half display and were left ruing their luck once again when the linesman adjudged that Leroy Lita had touched the ball before would have been a leveller from David Wheater, although the striker didn't actually appear to make contact.

"The referee said Lita handled it," said Strachan. "That was the biggest surprise because it was David Wheater who scored and there's a big difference between them two of them, if you look closely.

"It was the same linesman who gave the goal that the players think is offside but I've seen it since and he probably wasn't offside."

Strachan was bitterly disappointed for his men after they threw everything at City in the second half

"The players put so much into it and did enough to win the game and to come away with nothing is extraordinary," he said. "But for the first 15 minutes we didn't play to the pitch again and we'd been well warned to do that. Once we did we could play against Cardiff.

"I thought after 15 minutes we were fine, there was never a problem from Cardiff. We've had enough chances to win two games but we weren't good enough to take our chances. That's our fault.

"The longer the game went on the better we got, their fitness was excellent for the last half hour. The second half was one-way traffic but we've not taken our chances and David Marshall, a player I had at Celtic, has done well in goal."

"To put so much work in and get nothing, I feel sorry for the players."

The result leaves Boro without a goal in their last three away games, a situation Strachan knows is giving them an uphill task.

"We take responsibility for that, and for the first 15 minutes - and apart from that the responsibility lies away from us," he said.

Asked what affect the result has on Boro's play-off hopes, Strachan said: "It's got much harder, that's for sure."

To add to Boro's woes, Willo Flood and Jeremie Aliadiere both picked up injuries, which will be assessed in the days ahead.

"Willo is sore just below the knee, it could be a bad one, while we don't know the extent of Jeremie's toe injury," said Strachan.