Sunday 30 April 2017 19:28, UK
Steve Agnew was left incensed after a "controversial" Manchester City penalty denied Middlesbrough a crucial victory in their battle against relegation.
Leading 1-0 thanks to Alvaro Negredo's opener at the Riverside Stadium, Boro were pegged back in contentious circumstances when Leroy Sane went down under a Marten de Roon challenge.
With Sane appearing to already be falling before the contact with De Roon, Boro were riled by Kevin Friend's decision to point to the spot, especially once Sergio Aguero had converted the resulting spot kick.
"The penalty was controversial," Agnew told Sky Sports. "From where I was, I didn't think it was a penalty.
"I'm disappointed with the way the player went down. Looking back, was the referee in a good position to give a penalty?
"Every point matters but what you saw was the response from the players; their head didn't go down, they kept going, kept fighting and we got there.
"It's been a difficult season but if we continue to show that fighting spirit right to the end we're more than capable of winning football matches."
Boro recovered from the penalty controversy to reclaim the lead, Calum Chambers notching the first goal of his loan on Teesside.
But back came City, Gabriel Jesus scoring his first goal since February 5 five minutes from time as Boro had to settle for a point which does little to aid their survival push.
Despite this, Agnew chose to draw on the positives, adding: "It was a top-class performance from the players, they gave everything they possibly could and I thought we deserved the points.
"Apart from the one-off at Bournemouth, we've had character and desire in recent weeks. The spirit and determination from the players, the response from the ground and the energy in the stadium was top-class.
"The team were terrific, they gave everything they had. We were in a really good, organised shape behind the ball and obviously scored two goals against Manchester City."
The draw leaves Boro six points from safety with just three games remaining, the first of which sees Agnew take his men to Premier League leaders Chelsea for a match which is live on Sky Sports 1 next Monday.
"We want to win football matches," the Boro boss said. "We won on Wednesday [against Sunderland] and almost beat Manchester City.
"Of course, we're disappointed not to get six points but four from six, ahead of the Chelsea game, we've got loads of confidence. We got to Chelsea and that will be a very difficult fixture.
"But, as the players have shown today, if we continue to work like that there is no reason why we can't put a performance in and come back with the result we want."
