Wilder impressed to see Boro defeat Hatters in 'turgid' clash he felt was more of an 'arm wrestle'

Middlesbrough boss Chris Wilder was happy to see his side come out on top of a 'turgid' contest against fellow play-off hopefuls Luton on Saturday, that he also described as an 'arm wrestle'.

The hosts, who had won their last eight matches at the Riverside, took an early lead when Florian Balogun was tripped by Reece Burke in the area for a penalty that Paddy McNair coolly slotted home.

Although Town threatened an equaliser early in the second period, it wasn't forthcoming, Duncan Watmore making it 2-0 with three minutes to go, before Harry Cornick pulled one back in stoppage time.

Wilder said: "It was a different type of performance from us this afternoon.

"It was an arm wrestle. I said that to Al (Alan Knill, assistant manager) after about 10-15 minutes, this is what it's going to be.

"It's always going to be about a result, but we were going to have to show some different qualities today to get over the line, I’m delighted that we did.

“They have got some good players and I’m never critical of how anybody plays, everybody plays differently.

“Luton Town manager Nathan (Jones) has played different formations right through his career so we can coach whatever we want to coach.

“The stall was set in terms of when the teams came out.

"Danny Hylton and their two boys at the top of the pitch were always going to make that happen and it was how we deal with it.

“From a defensive point of view, we did deal with it, from a possession point of view, it was a scrappy game, there was no flow to it.

"It was an arm wrestle, it was turgid, it was all about getting the first goal which we did from a great bit of play.

"I'm disappointed that we possibly had a couple of chances just before half-time to extend our lead.

“We always knew with the spirit that the opposition have got, they were going to come back because they had nothing to lose.

"They are going to chuck men and chuck the ball at you, it became that sort of afternoon where we had to get over the line, get the job done by hook or by crook."

Both sides had gone into the game on the back of differing FA Cup results against Premier League opposition, Boro beating Spurs 1-0, while Luton were knocked out 3-2 by Chelsea.

Wilder added: "You can’t underestimate what went off on Tuesday night and obviously they played Wednesday.

"They made more changes than us which obviously, that's their prerogative to do that.

“The second goal was huge for us because it would have been one of those last five or ten minutes where we would have had to see it out.

“We didn’t really play with that flow that we have done for the majority of my time here.

"Saying that, we had to go again and we would have taken the result at the start of play.

"They are on a fabulous run, they are well organised, aggressive, difficult to play against and they’ve got nothing to lose.

"They are up there because they are winning games of football and they’ve got structure and they play.

“We never underestimated that.

"There's different ways to win a game and from my characteristics and my personality, I enjoyed that in more in a way than some wins at home because it was a real ‘show me what you’ve got’ to see the game out and we did that.

“It become a bit lively and tasty, a few challenges flying in, moans and groans from each bench and the fourth official’s ears will be ringing tonight but let’s not take away anything.

"As much as Nathan may moan about a couple of things, I’ve definitely got a couple of cases to moan about.

“Let’s look at it from two teams who wanted to go and get a result and we managed to squeeze over the line in a tight game.”