Middlesbrough manager Jonathan Woodgate says his first six months in charge at the Riverside Stadium have not gone to plan. 

Boro find themselves in 20th place at the halfway stage of the season, ahead of this afternoon’s game against Huddersfield Town, and asked to give his assessment of the campaign so far, Woodgate did not hold back:

“It hasn’t been great, has it. We’re in the position that we are…but I don’t think we’re far away. A lot of the games have been decided by fine margins. There have been some tough moments: Sheffield Wednesday, Swansea, Leeds, but there we were beaten by a better team.”

“But when you win games and the players give you everything, that’s the high. The attitude of the players, in the building, outside the building, in training every day, I can’t speak highly enough of the players.”

Injuries have certainly played a part in the Teessiders’ poor start to the season, but the main issue has been the inability to score goals.

21 in 23 league games puts a lot of pressure on their defence to keep clean sheets. Despite a reasonable defensive record, though, results just haven’t been good enough.

Those “fine margins” that Woodgate talks about are costing Middlesbrough points at the moment, and to get on the right side of the scoreline more often they will need to recruit a proven goalscorer when the transfer window reopens next month.