Plymouth Argyle head coach Wayne Rooney told BBC Radio Devon:
“It’s frustrating. Reflecting on the game I thought first half we were excellent, both in possession and out of possession.
“I thought we got the press right, nullified the way Middlesbrough wanted to play – they’re a very good attacking team and very good at taking the ball and playing through the lines.
“We were unlucky to go into the break only 1-0 up, and then second half we concede early, Middlesbrough then started getting control of the game a bit.
“But we were still creating good chances and good opportunities to score, so I think based on chances alone we probably deserved to win the game.
“I’m a little bit disappointed we didn’t do better for two of the three goals, I think we were a bit naive in that we had opportunities to clear the ball and we didn’t clear it well enough or far enough.”
Middlesbrough head coach Michael Carrick told BBC Radio Tees:
“I was pleased with the boys’ character and commitment and belief to keep pegging it back second half like we did.
“I thought we were the better team second half, but first half we weren’t at our best.
“You can’t concede that many opportunities and goals and expect to win games every week.
“[With] the attacking play and opportunities we maybe could have scored more, but we just gave ourselves too much to do really.”