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Middlesbrough’s grip on a play-off place loosened on Wednesday night as Tony Pulis’ side slumped to a 2-1 defeat against Preston North End at the Riverside Stadium.

Boro took a first half lead through Ashley Fletcher, but the sending off of Spanish centre-back Daniel Ayala after the break saw the momentum of the match swing in the Lilywhites’ favour. Pulis was not able to manage the situation, and North End applied continual pressure until they got the goals they needed to snatch a win.

The defeat marked Middlsbrough’s second loss in a row, with them previously having squandered a lead against Brentford in similar circumstances.

Boro’s present inability to defend leads is worrying, especially as the club are verging on falling out of the play-off places. Pulis must find a way to arrest this slide, but some fans are losing patience with the coach.

Following the loss to Preston, plenty of Boro fans took to Twitter to express their frustrations with the manager…