Kim Hellberg “impressed” with Middlesbrough team after draw with Bristol City

Kim Hellberg felt his Middlesbrough side delivered an “unbelievable performance” – even though their winless home run was extended to four matches with a 1-1 draw with Bristol City.

Middlesbrough have picked up just three points from their last four games at the Riverside after Adam Randell’s stoppage-time header earned Bristol City a point on Teesside.

Boro opened the scoring when Leo Castledine fired home, but Alan Browne and David Strelec spurned gilt-edged chances to make the game safe before Randell levelled.

Nevertheless, Hellberg was proud of his players’ performance despite another failure to win at home.

Hellberg said: “I’m happy about the performance, I think it was an unbelievable performance again. Unbelievable from the players – how we play, how we act, how we create chances.

“It was a top performance, but of course it’s tough if you don’t kill the game off, there can be an opportunity for a team that maybe have their first chance to score in 95 minutes. That was the disappointment, but again, if you look at the performance, you are looking at a team that have played very good football.

“Of course, it hurts to concede when we did, but in my role, you have to look at the performance and the things we are doing well. I think that the way we play is the most important thing to talk about.

“I know the result, at 1-1, is a disappointment now. It’s a team we haven’t beaten in a long time – we struggle a lot with this team – but I think the way we play, creating chances, being brave, is very impressive. I think it is stronger for me to tell you that when we have not won. I think we are a hell of a good football team, and I am so impressed by it.”

Bristol City went into the game off the back of four successive defeats in all competitions, and with a number of first-choice players unavailable because of injury.

However, Gerhard Struber’s side dug in impressively to deny Middlesbrough’s players time and space in the final third. Then, when a chance finally came their way deep into stoppage time, Randell powered his way to the edge of the six-yard box in order to head home Tomi Horvat’s corner.

Struber said: “It’s a special point. Being resilient was how the boys were committed to the match plan. We had a deeper block and were waiting for the transition moments, and that was exactly what we talked about before the game.

“Especially in the first half, we did a great job with our organisation and didn’t give them the space they like. We had better transitions in the second half and in the end, we scored a goal.

“We believed something could happen. It was really late, but I would say it was well deserved for the resilience, discipline and the big effort we left on the field.

“It was big team work from us, and we have stopped the bad run. It feels like a bit of a release.”