Riggott had a loan spell at Stoke City last season

Middlesbrough defender Chris Riggott has warned his team-mates they must see out games after letting a lead slip in Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Portsmouth.

Boro also threw away an advantage in August's 2-1 loss at Liverpool and Riggott admitted the defeats had been painful for the players.

"You've got to take the sting out of the game by keeping hold of the ball and we didn't," he told BBC Tees.

"We're pretty down in that dressing room as you can imagine."

Expectations at the Riverside have risen since manager Gareth Southgate took charge and this current campaign has been Middlesbrough's best start to a Premier League season in nine years.

Attitudes within the squad are very much the same and Riggott is keen to assure the supporters that the players share their concerns.

"There's always concern when you're getting ahead and not winning games," he said.

"They [Liverpool and Portsmouth] are two tough places to go but that's not an excuse.

"Maybe we could have had a couple of points if not four points from the games so it's massively disappointing."