Omer Riza hails the ‘resilience’ of his battling Bluebirds in draw at Middlesborough

Cardiff City manager Omer Riza hailed the fighting spirit of his team in their 1-1 draw at Middlesborough.

Cardiff sit 23rd in the Championship and level on points with Hull and Portsmouth above them after a third game without defeat.

Rubin Colwill had a chance to win it for the Bluebirds in the closing stages but he headed wide from a cross.

The Bluebirds head coach said: “Every point is important. This is a tough place to come, we managed to contain them with our resilience and deserved a point.

“Rubin could have scored at the end as well but that might have been unfair on them if we had nicked it. He worked endlessly, as did all the boys behind him and that is what we needed to get something from the game.

“The boys are showing fighting spirit. We probably need to show a bit more quality in possession and not turn it over, because it allows them to hit us again.

“You are under pressure though and trying to pick up points. They have come through the game and we have picked up five points from our last three games against tough opposition, Watford, Coventry and here.

“We have to keep working. We could have picked up more three points before in games and the position would have improved further, but we have to keep fighting and working to pick up those three points. This was satisfying today.”

Michael Carrick insisted “nothing’s changed” regarding Ben Doak’s immediate future at Middlesbrough after the on-loan winger helped earn a point against Cardiff amid reported interest from the Premier League.

The 19-year-old Scotland international’s wing-play led to him creating the space to deliver the perfect cross for Emmanuel Latte Lath’s 10th goal of the season in the 1-1 draw at the Riverside.

Highly-rated Doak, on loan from Liverpool, has been the subject of reported offers from Crystal Palace and Ipswich in the last week which have been rejected by the Reds.

But he was named in the starting line-up by Middlesbrough on Saturday and impressed in spells against the Bluebirds.

Carrick said: “Nothing’s changed. Loans are loans, that’s how it is. In terms of the situation, it’s exactly where we are.

“He played today, looked dangerous and created a goal. It is what it is. Nothing has changed from our point of view. I’m pretty calm about it.

“He played today, he played well in spells and looked really dangerous. I have no worries about that.

“January can throw up different things. Sometimes you can keep players and sometimes you can lose players or teams come in for your players, that’s just how it is. Everyone is important but we knew the situation when we got into it.”

Latte Lath’s opener from Doak’s delivery in the 12th minute looked like putting Middlesbrough, sitting fifth, on track for three points.

But former Middlesbrough loan man Calum Chambers, who spent a season at the Riverside in 2016-17, curled in an equaliser nine minutes later to level things up.

Middlesbrough could not come up with the required magic in the final third to earn three points.

Carrick said: “I was disappointed we didn’t create openings and trouble the keeper. The boys are trying to do a lot of things. We could be better than we were today.

“It is a mindset, it’s the players, staff, supporters, everything, we have to look at what is next and create that energy and positivity to see what can be achieved. We tried to tweak things to find that spark and it didn’t happen.”