Mowbray was criticial of his team's litany of mistakes

Furious Middlesbrough boss Tony Mowbray laid into his players after they lost 4-3 against Swansea despite leading 3-1 with an hour played.

"There was some very poor defending out there," said Mowbray. "You should never lose grip of a two-goal lead like that but it was all self-inflicted.

"We have shot ourselves in the foot. It comes down to some very poor decision-making on our part."

The defeat leaves Boro five points above the relegation zone.

Mowbray added: "Now we are looking over our shoulders again.

"Had we won, we could have gone up three, four five places. Instead, we will now have to work very, very hard to make sure we are not looking over our shoulders at the end."

Goals from Marvin Emnes, Jonathan Grounds and Leroy Lita had seemingly put Boro in control at 3-1 but Swansea made it 3-2 after Scott Sinclair scored from the penalty spot after 60 minutes.

And Mowbray was unhappy with the foul on Joe Allen by Julio Arca that led to the spot kick.

"For the penalty that clawed them back into it, it was a tackle in the box that didn't need to be made," said the Boro boss.

"Then there was a mistake when the goalkeeper didn't clear and two men ran into each other, and then for the last goal we stood off and no-one got in front of the lad before he shot.

"When you analyse the game there were huge problems. We had a game plan and to a large extent it worked but then we made some very silly mistakes."

Swans drew level through Ashley Williams before Craig Beattie scored the winner in injury time.

"It was fantastic," said Swans boss Brendan Rodgers of his team's comeback.

"It showed real character and real mental toughness. At times this season we have played some fantastic football and we know we have the ability to create goals and score goals.

"But sometimes winning games comes down to character and how you react to setbacks and we showed that we can react in a very positive manner."

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