Cifuentes ‘Incredibly Frustrated’ After Boro Draw

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Cifuentes ‘Incredibly Frustrated’ After Boro Draw

Martí Cifuentes spoke of the team’s frustration at leaving with only one point after a last-gasp Middlesbrough equaliser at King Power Stadium on Tuesday night.

2025-11-05T09:00+00:00

by Sam Jones

Published

05 Nov, 2025

Cifuentes ‘Incredibly Frustrated’ After Boro Draw

Martí Cifuentes spoke of the team’s frustration at leaving with only one point after a last-gasp Middlesbrough equaliser at King Power Stadium on Tuesday night.

Sam Jones

2025-11-05T09:00+00:00

Cifuentes ‘Incredibly Frustrated’ After Boro Draw

Martí Cifuentes spoke of the team’s frustration at leaving with only one point after a last-gasp Middlesbrough equaliser at King Power Stadium on Tuesday night.

Sam Jones

2025-11-05T09:00+00:00

Cifuentes ‘Incredibly Frustrated’ After Boro Draw

Martí Cifuentes spoke of the team’s frustration at leaving with only one point after a last-gasp Middlesbrough equaliser at King Power Stadium on Tuesday night.

Sam Jones

2025-11-05T09:00+00:00

Cifuentes ‘Incredibly Frustrated’ After Boro Draw

Martí Cifuentes spoke of the team’s frustration at leaving with only one point after a last-gasp Middlesbrough equaliser at King Power Stadium on Tuesday night.

Sam Jones

2025-11-05T09:00+00:00

We drew 1-1 with Middlesbrough in the Sky Bet Championship
Luke Ayling’s stoppage-time header cancelled out Jordan Ayew’s penalty
Manager Martí Cifuentes gave his take on a disappointing evening on Filbert Way
The Foxes are now 13th in the second-tier standings

We looked set to be heading for a first win in five Sky Bet Championship matches following Jordan Ayew’s penalty on the stroke of half-time, before, deep into stoppage time, Luke Ayling rose highest to snatch a share of the spoils for 10-man Boro, who had Alfie Jones sent off just a few minutes earlier.

A tough end to the game, City’s Manager reflected on the 1-1 draw post-match, citing the efforts from his players but also the support from the stands during what has been a difficult run of form.

He commented after full-time: “We’re incredibly frustrated after a very tough, very cruel, ending of the game for all of us, the way it happened. I think the guys showed character, showed commitment, showed passion, showed desire. That should be the way always.

“We need to take this attitude, this character and this feeling with the fans, because it was very good today. That’s definitely the way to get better. I feel bad for the fans because they were very good throughout the whole game, behind the team and it’s very disappointing that we couldn’t give them the three points.

“That’s football, but at the same time, I said to the guys that if we compete the same way we did today, that’s a very good way to go in this league. You need to grind it out, even when you are in the dynamic that we are. You need to make sure that you give your best like we did today.”

There were four changes to the side from Saturday’s home defeat by Blackburn Rovers, with Ben Nelson coming into the defence for his first league minutes of the season, allowing Caleb Okoli to switch across to right-back.

Photo 1/25

A look at the imagery from Tuesday night's clash with Middlesbrough at King Power Stadium.

Cifuentes also provided an update on goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk, who was forced off at half-time due to a groin injury, with Asmir Begovic taking his place between the sticks, making his City debut.

“There are positives,” the Spaniard continued. “I think Ben [Nelson] played a very good game. Skippy (Oliver Skipp) as well played a very good game. Both of them were obviously very tired at the end. JJ (Jordan James) as well, he played really well but he had a small problem in the last game and then of course it was not getting better through the minutes.

“We always try to analyse our strengths, get to know the opposition and Boro are obviously a team who switch a lot from game to game, even during the games. We thought that Caleb [Okoli] would give us a lot on this right side, especially against a team who score a lot from runners.

“To allow Abdul [Fatawu] as well to have the capacity to get some more support offensively, we thought it worked really well. Sometimes we have been using different players; Hamza [Choudhury] and Ricky (Ricardo Pereira) with all of their strengths and today Caleb had a very good game.

“He (Jakub Stolarczyk) felt his groin and it was getting worse through the minutes. At half-time, he felt that he couldn’t carry on and sometimes, when you are not in the best dynamic, things like this happen, but we just need to see how it feels in the next few days and how it is for Saturday.

"He (Asmir Begovic) had a very good save. His experience is very important.”

Cifuentes says he must lift everyone in the coming days, with a trip to Norwich City on the horizon this weekend, a 3pm GMT kick-off at Carrow Road.

“Now we need to swallow it,” he added. “We are very frustrated. It’s the way it must be. We were very close, but at the same time, I told the guys, if we compete this way, we are going to get a lot of points in this league, so now that’s the dynamic.

“It’s not easy in these kind of situations. We need to do it with the same commitment and attitude that we showed today. We’re going to try again on Saturday.”

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