Mark Robins offered his thoughts after Middlesbrough's dramatic 3-2 win over Stoke City

Mark Robins paid Middlesbrough a huge compliment that Kim Hellberg will no doubt love, after the dramatic 3-2 win over his Stoke City side.

Boro showed fantastic character after twice surrendering a lead in the second half at the bet365 Stadium, to finally win the game in the 91st minute.

The goals from Callum Brittain, Will Lankshear and Neto Borges ended a six-game winning run for Stoke - with five of those six games ended in victory for Robins’s side too.

And in what will be music to tactician Kim Hellberg’s ears, Robins discussed after how hard it is to plan to play Boro - particularly in a midweek game with therefore less time to train.

Robins said: “They are really tricky opponents to play. And the biggest problem for us is because we played on a Saturday with ten men, and now you have a quick turnaround into this one.

“So you can't do the work on the grass. This particular game, because of the way they play, needed a week's work into it.

“It's difficult. It's not excuses, it’s because there are so many details that you have to give the players around a team like Middlesbrough.

“It's good that we played them. It's good that we've seen it and felt it, and then you can look at that and do better against them next time.”

Robins is hoping his side can learn from the defeat and be stronger as a result. In another big compliment to Boro, he said he believes they are one of the top sides in the Championship - and a side his Stoke team should aspire to be.

“I think we need to learn a lesson from it, and that lesson should be: yes, be aggressive, yes, understand that they're a good team, but don't fear it. Don't worry about that, get after it,” he said.

“I’m frustrated, because whilst there's a lot to like [in Stoke’s performance]. There's still a big step to bridge the gap against top teams. They control the game, but you've got to try and break that up.

“There's a lot of positives. We've got some really good players that can develop into a team like Middlesbrough. Because I like them, I like the way they play, I think it's clever.

“They have players in positions where they understand how wide to go, how narrow to be in a back three, and then they've got one six, and then they've got players off the side that work off the back of your first line of press.

“We tried to tackle them, we tried to commit bodies forward, and we tried to be aggressive, But then they played how they played. Don't get me wrong, we worked hard, but they ran our legs out, because the distances were too big.

“I think they've got a good team. As far as their depth of the squad is concerned, I think they've got a really good squad.

“What they've done really well is they've bought and sold brilliantly. When they’ve received the right money that's been well spent. It's all right doing that, but having the right players, spending that money on the right players, they've done it really well.

“I think they're a good side, and well coached. They have that belief, you know, whereas I think we need to work into that, you know. They're a good side, there's no doubt about it.”

Offering his final thoughts and feelings on the defeat, Robins concluded: “I'm proud of the players over the last sort of month or so. I think we've been pretty good, but we do need to learn, and improve.

“You've got to dust yourself down. The Championship's tough, we know that. We go again Saturday. There's a lot of things in the game that I was pleased about.

“I’m not over the moon with the result, that's for sure, but I think there were some really good signs, and if we learn the lessons from it, we can make steps, make strides into being a team like that.

“I guarantee one thing is this: if we had played this team last season, we'd have got battered.”