Following on from last night’s disappointing 2-0 defeat to Middlesbrough, Mark Hughes has explained his decision to use Micah Richards as a left back at the Riverside.

As the teamsheets were given out it became a guessing game around the press box as to how Hughes would set up his back four of Dunne, Richards, Onuoha and Tal Ben-Haim.

And after using Richards at left back, the Blues boss told us: “We needed to be a little bit more solid defensively. I think away from home at times we’ve left ourselves a little bit exposed.

“I was looking for a bit more solidity at the back that I think he provided. We looked okay but at other times we looked like a team that hasn’t really had a settled back four all year.

“That’s something that’s been a problem for us, so we’re trying to get the right balance of the guys back there that will enable us to have a defensive platform to be able to bring in the attack minded players they have in front of them.”

And when those attacking players got on the ball they couldn’t find a way beyond Man of the Match, Ross Turnbull, in the Boro goal.

Hughes added: “We tested him in good areas and situations but we needed to convert at least one of those chances.

“I think that if we’d have scored first we would have won the game quite comfortably. They got the rub of the green with the penalty decision and it became more difficult for us after that.”