Plymouth had chances too, Brad Jones making a couple of decent saves.

Boro paid the price for some disjointed defending as Plymouth landed the sucker punch on 64 minutes. Hard-working lone front man Jamie Mackie out-paced David Wheater to reach a quick knock on by Alan Gow, nudged past the Boro skipper then slotted cooly under advancing keeper Brad Jones from 15 yards out.

“We need to finish the chances but then we all know what’s wrong,” fiesty former Celtic boss Strachan said. “You don’t need to be a Uefa qualified pro to see what the problem is.

“The hardest part of this game is scoring goals. We are creating. You have to give the strikers as many chances a possible and we are doing that but need to put it in the net.

“We have looked at that. We’ve been trying to get strikers on loan and we brought in Marcus (Bent) but it won’t happen overnight. It will take hard work for us to find a winning formula.”

Despite the downbeat end to a game that started with an air of optimism and expectation Strachan admitted he was delighted to be back in the dug-out.

“It was frustrating but it always is when you lose,” he said. “But it was nice to be back. I enjoyed it, not the match because as a manager you only enjoy them when you win. But I enjoyed the experience. It was nice to be back and involved in the build-up to the game.”

MIDDLESBROUGH: Jones, Hoyte, Wheater, St. Ledger, Pogatetz (Grounds 53), Arca (Yeates 87), O’Neil, Williams, Johnson, Lita, Emnes (Bent 46). Subs (not used): Coyne, Digard, Franks, McMahon.

PLYMOUTH: Larrieu, Gray, Lowry, Arnason, Sawyer, Duguid, Fletcher, Folly, Judge (Clark 81), Mackie, Gow (Barnes 81). Subs (not used): Letheren, Paterson, Timar, Sheridan, Joe Mason.

Booked: Fletcher. Goals: Mackie 64.

Referee: Mike Russell (Hertfordshire) Attendance: 21,141