NEIL Lennon apologised to Wanderers fans for his side’s first-half performance at Middlesbrough, admitting it had been a mistake to play a back three at the Riverside.

The Whites boss took criticism on the chin after the 3-0 defeat and admitted it could have been more.

Lennon played Prince-Desire Gounano, Rob Holding and Dorian Dervite in a three-man central defensive partnership for the first half-hour, with Dean Moxey and Josh Vela as wing-backs.

But the players struggled to get to grips with the shape, leaving Boro wingers Stewart Downing and Albert Adomah to run the show early on.

“I take full responsibility – I pick the team and the formation and I quite clearly got it wrong,” Lennon said.

“I still expect players to pass, tackle and harry and we looked miles off the pace, which we haven’t done.

“So me and the backroom staff will take the responsibility for that today.

“Second half we were a lot better, we went back to a formation we were more comfortable with, but the reason we went with it initially is that Gary Madine pulled out injured this morning and Zach Clough walked out of training yesterday with a knock.

“I wanted to play Emile Heskey from the start, so we needed to play another one up there with him. The best way, I thought, was to play a back three and make sure we had the numbers in midfield. But we never got near in the first half.

“There was so communication out there but that’s my fault. The confusion stops at my door and I apologise to the supporters for that and it won’t happen again.”

Lennon switched to a back four just before half time and brought on Clough at the break for Jay Spearing, after which things improved slightly and Boro took their foot off the pedal.

“You can talk about formations all you want – you’ve got to have the ability to run and tackle, and pass the ball to a team-mate consistently, but we did none of that in the first half,” Lennon added.

“Can the players take some of the blame, well yes, but ultimately I’ll take the responsibility here and we will get better, no question.

“Zach looked okay but we didn’t want to take a chance with three games coming up before the break.

“It’s one point out of six – and that’s maybe one more than people thought – but we looked half the team we were last week in terms of intensity and the way we approached the game.”