Edwards is chasing improvements for his shot-shy Boro

SOLID AT THE BACK BUT BOSS ADMITS HE NEEDS TRAINING GROUND TIME TO GET THE ATTACKING OUTPUT IN PLACE

- By CRAIG JOHNS

Sammy Silvera

ROB Edwards' biggest priority right now is trying to improve Middlesbrough's attacking output, but he admits limited time in between Stoke City and Portsmouth games hasn't made that easy.

Boro drew a blank in midweek against Stoke City, with the inability to take advantage of a particularly dominant first half a big frustration. Boro squandered a number of good chances and promising openings as their final ball let them down all too often. While Boro ultimately battled to take a point and keep their unbeaten record intact, it's fair to say attacking improvements are needed.

On Stoke specifically, Edwards said: "In the first half when we were dominant, we weren't good enough in some moments in the final third. Whether that was an opportunity to get in behind, the detail of the cross, arriving in the box with the right numbers or, we had a couple of opportunities where we just slashed at things.

"We maybe didn't take enough care with our finish. We had the penalty moment that never was, but ultimately it was down to us. We had enough momentum and enough quality moments with the ball in good areas, but didn't then convert that into working the goalkeeper enough.

"That's on me, that's on us to be better, and we've spoken about that.