Boro slightly wide of the mark

More width was required was the response of manager Gordon Strachan following Middlesbrough's 1-1 draw with Athlone Town in their opening pre-season friendly.

Kris Boyd got off the mark as Boro took a lead late in the second-half, but their opponents quickly responded with an equaliser.

"We could have done with giving our strikers more width," Strachan told the Evening Gazette afterwards. "It`s something we will work on though we didn`t have the players last night to help us to do that. We`ve brought in Andy Halliday but he is injured at the moment."

The Scot fielded four natural midfield players across their central line including skipper Gary O'Neil cast out in an unfamiliar left-sided role.

But he dismissed suggestions that it meant that the former Portsmouth man was gradually being pushed further out of the picture at the Riverside.

"Gary is more than happy here. He wants to see out his contract. At the end of the day, players decide whether they want to stay or go, but unless we get a huge offer that we have to look at then Gary will be staying."

Meanwhile, the Boro boss was absolutely delighted with the performance of latest signing Kevin Thomson.

"I thought Kevin was excellent. He never gave the ball away once despite some of their players testing him," he added.

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