Neil Warnock was left frustrated with Middlesbrough conceding three goals in five second -half minutes at Luton Town, on a landmark evening for him.
The 72-year old took charge of his 1,602nd match in the English professional leagues, a country record, but saw the home side take victory in dramatic fashion.
Warnock believed that his side was guilty of losing concentration, and that they showed a soft side to their play.
“It’s not the way I wanted to celebrate my record, but you’ve just got to get on with it,” he said. “If you give three goals away you get punished. We just haven’t got enough of that nastiness, they just bullied us for that five minutes and we couldn’t stand up to it.
“But the lads gave everything. Josh Coburn and Isaiah Jones, the young lads did ever so well. I told Josh: ‘You’ll remember this day as much as I will”. He’s a fabulous lad.
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“You need the desire to keep your goal intact, and we just didn’t have it in that five-minute spell. We made it too easy for Luton. You look at the goals and it’s disappointing, really.”
Coburn marked his first league start after fifteen minutes, after sliding in to score unmarked from an Andraz Sporar cross, following a fine flowing move involving Matt Crooks and Marcus Tavernier.
Middlesbrough could have been awarded a spot kick on twenty minutes, when Jones appeared to be clipped by defender Dan Potts, but referee Tim Robinson awarded a goal kick.
Visiting captain Johnny Howson had to clear off the line, after Elijah Adebayo looked to have scrambled the ball into the net. Luton then turned around the contest in a dramatic spell after the restart.
Sonny Bradley equalised on 56 minutes when he headed home a corner, albeit off defender Anfernee Dijksteel.
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Then Adebayo gave the hosts the lead when he was able to find space in the area to slot past Luke Daniels. The comeback was complete just after the hour mark, when Cornick directed his effort into the back of the net after some poor Middlesbrough defending.
While the visitors looked a shadow of their first-half selves, Luton propelled themselves into the top six with their comeback. Manager Nathan Jones was quick to praise the third goalscorer Cornick.
He said “His performances haven’t changed, he’s been wonderful for us and he’s so important with his workrate and energy.
“He’s just added more of a clinical edge, he missed easier chances than that last year.
“We trust him now, he’s played a central position. He’s so dangerous — we love him. He’s playing with confidence. We can be happy and a little bit buoyant in terms of the mood. We are in a good position, we’ve got a young and hungry squad and with good experience in certain areas.”
