Middlesbrough boss reveals official frustration after 'massive' Leeds United decision

Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick was left frustrated by a 'massive' offside decision that went Leeds United's way in their 4-3 Riverside win.

A madcap game saw Boro take an early lead through Isaiah Jones before Crysencio Summerville's penalty and Patrick Bamford's goal against his former side swung things towards the visitors.

Carrick's men hit back through Emmanuel Latte Lath's long-distance strike, only to fall behind once more when a clearly offside Willy Gnonto smashed home to make it 3-2.

A second for Summerville just past the hour mark appeared to make the game safe for Leeds before Lath's header caught Illan Meslier off his line to set up a tense finish.

"I enjoyed the game, I thought we did a lot of good things," said Carrick at full-time, after approaching the match officials to share some of his thoughts.

"I thought we done loads of good things. They've got some good quality, they've showed that all season, really dangerous at the top end. We knew that.

“I thought largely the boys dealt with it well. I thought we defended largely in shape really well and I thought we were really good with the ball and dominated large parts. I was really pleased with the boys and the effort."

Carrick's full-time angst centered not only around the offside call for Leeds' third but the lack of time added on at the end of the game. The referee Tony Harrington added five minutes but Carrick felt the stop-start nature of that period should have prompted more football at the end.

"We went for it, threw everything at them and the offside goal is a massive, massive decision, not just for us, maybe for other teams in the bigger picture too," he said.

"The line is impeccable really, three of them hold the line and you expect offsides given, it was too clear not to be. I got frustrated with the added time. The board goes up for five minutes, we end up getting about 18 seconds added on but the ball was out of play for 90 seconds, two minutes within that five minutes. Little bit frustrating."

The way his team kept pushing to try and get something from the game, despite being out of the play-off picture, delighted the ex-Manchester United man.

"Tonight's game could have been, especially with them going ahead, one of those where you accept it is what it is, I've seen it many times coming to the end of a season," he said. "But the lads are not like that. They've applied themselves fantastically well."