'I hate that' - Andy Dawson's Hull City verdict after controversial moment for Middlesbrough

Andy Dawson refused to be drawn on a controversial moment of Middlesbrough's win over Hull City, insisting he wants his players to have a 'no excuse' mentality.

Boro returned to winning ways against the Tigers on Saturday as Finn Azaz opened the scoring before a Tommy Conway brace set Michael Carrick's side up for an important victory off the back of Wednesday's defeat to Blackburn Rovers.

But it wasn't without controversy - this time working in the favour of Boro - as Neto Borges looked rather fortunte not to receive a straight red card for a challange while last man which deemed not to have been a foul. With the game goalless at the time, interim Hull boss Dawsom was asked about it afterwards but refused to make excuses.

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"I'm not going to comment on the ref," he said. "I haven't seen it back. The lads said it was a foul but I can't comment. I want them to have a no excuse mentality. I hate that blaming other people, it's what can we do? What I said to them was that move was top.

"We can't affect the decision the ref makes. The second goal, is it offside? I don't know, have a look, but again I'm not making excuses because I challenge them every day. Did they stick to it? Absolutely."

Dawson only assumed control of the Hull side on Wednesday, with manager Tim Walter sacked after four straight defeats. With that in mind, though Hull rarely threatened Boro, the Northallerton-born coach was thrilled with his side's efforts against a side he was full of compliments for.

He continued: "It's difficult because emotion always run deep when you're on the run that we're on. We've lost another game. I feel the pain and all the staff do, we're feeling it, of course we are. You're never pleased with a defeat but they kept going until the end. We conceded two poor goals, especially the first one, but at 2-0 down at half-time the message was, what are you going to do? And they kept working incredibly hard and scored a really good goal.

"I honestly though at 2-1 we were going to get back in the game, but against a good team and good players there are little moments when you have to be so clinical. I was just disappointed that we didn't last at 2-1 or just keep it rolling for five or 10 more minutes. I felt the game changing a little bit. You could see little things changing. But they're a good team and dealt with it.

"When I take myself away from the disappointment and ask did they do what we asked of them, yes, they did. I have to give credit to Middlesbrough, they're a very good team who can hurt you and score goals. But there is lots of work to do, absolutely. We have to go again."