Den defeat may be pivotal point if the play-offs are not reached now

WHEN all is said and done, if Middlesbrough miss out on the play-offs this season it will be days like Saturday at Millwall that epitomises why.

- By CRAIG JOHNS Football writer

The 1-0 defeat at the Den was by no means Boro's worst performance of the season. In fact, for the majority of it, they were the better team. But in leaving empty-handed, it was 90 minutes that ultimately exposed so many of the flaws that see Boro on the outside looking in, with just four games now remaining.

The first flaw was Boro's lack of cutting edge in the final third. After an early Millwall chance, Boro controlled the first half and, for the most part, moved the ball around quite nicely. Time and time again, however, that was only until they got the ball into the final third, at which point they just could not find that all-important final moment. There was some bad luck and a feeling of just one of those days, but ultimately, Boro just didn't do enough to force the issue either.

As Millwall defended compactly in the kind of way that Boro have struggled to break down too often this season, Michael Carrick implored his side to move it faster from the touchline. That they enjoyed over 60% of the ball in the first half, but made goalkeeper Lukas Jensen make only one simple save. That summed up a frustrating first half that we've all seen all too often this season.

Having not taken advantage of their control in the first half, as we've seen on many occasions already this season, they didn’t handle the change of momentum at the start of the second half well enough either. There were strong appeals for a Millwall penalty just two minutes after the restart as Jonny Howson nipped in and made a challenge that denied Teessider Macaulay Langstaff a certain close-range goal.