CHRIS WILDER

said ‘everything that could go wrong did go wrong’, as his Middlesbrough side’s challenge for a play-off place ended in embarrassment.

Middlesbrough finished with 10 men after Paddy McNair was sent off for handball in conceding the penalty which allowed Preston striker Emil Riis to compound the visitors’ humiliation.

Wilder’s men needed a win to stand any chance of finishing in the top six but trailed 2-0 at halftime, with Dael Fry turning Riis’s effort into his own goal after Preston captain Alan Browne had pivoted to steer in a Brad Potts cross for the opener.

Marcus Tavernier pulled one back after half-time, but Riis scored twice, the first a cool finish, the second expertly from the spot, to end any hopes of a Boro win.

Wilder said: ‘You wake up believing but it wasn’t to be. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The players were really off it. We fell short. There will be a few regrets for the players when they put their head on their pillow over the next two or three nights.’

Riis’s second-half double took his total for the season to 20, and Preston manager Ryan Lowe allowed the Dane to take home the match ball, arguing that he had a claim on a hat-trick as he should have been awarded Fry’s own-goal.

‘I know someone has given it as an own goal, but when you’ve got a shot on target, it’s surely his,’ said Lowe.