The Middlesbrough boss Jonathan Woodgate gave an honest assessment following their exit to Crewe Alexandra in the first round of the Carabao Cup last night. The former Leeds, Tottenham and Real Madrid defender was extremely complimentary about our performance at the Riverside, especially in that first-half that saw us 2-0 ahead at the break.

Boro improved in the second half with the introduction of Paddy McNair and Ashley Fletcher and they managed to force a penalty shoot-out by scoring twice in the final 15 minutes.

Crewe’s four confident penalties resulted in a deserved 4-2 win in the shoot-out and the former England centre-half was quick to say it was thoroughly deserved to the media afterwards.

Woodgate said at the Riverside: “I’m constantly learning lessons about my players,”

 “Like I said from the start that wasn’t good enough, Crewe deserved to win the game.

“Penalties can be a lottery and they took their chance on the penalties, it wasn’t good enough.

“If players’ standards drop that’s why you’re getting beat 2-0 at half-time when they think they’re doing ok and some think they can do what they want that’s what happened with the first-half performance.

"It just shows that if play any cup tie and you don't show up, you'll get found out if you don't show up, and we didn't. They were miles better and they deserved to win."