PHIL Parkinson admits his players are struggling to cope with continual pay problems at Wanderers.

The misery continued for Bolton as they were beaten 2-0 at home by Middlesbrough, edging them closer to relegation from the Championship.

Financial problems continue to dominate the agenda with players currently unpaid and seeking the help of the PFA to intervene.

And though Parkinson refuses to use the situation as an excuse for poor performances in the league, morale in the camp has been hit hard.

“I am telling you now, the lads and the staff are very, very low,” he said.

“We spoke to the lads on Sunday and the feedback was that a lot of them are struggling with this situation because of mortgage payments etc.

“It’s OK for people to say ‘yeah, but footballers earn good money’ but our players are not at that end of the spectrum. We have a lot of lads where this is their first taste of Championship football and they have mortgages bigger than they normally would have got.

“It is a concern for them and it’s difficult because all the talk is about wages and I can stand there and feel for them, feel for supporters, but we do need some help.”

Two goals from Ashley Fletcher sealed a comfortable victory for Boro – their first after a six-game losing streak.

Parkinson felt his side had applied themselves well enough but said mistakes in the build-up to both goals had cost them dear.

“The goals were really disappointing for us because I thought we were in the game and matching them,” he said.

“The first one was a throw in down the line and the second a loose cross-field pass which got cut out and we got punished for it.

“The lads tried to keep doing the right things, no-one hid away from receiving the ball at any point and we kept trying to play but we were up against a team with £40million of quality at the top end of the pitch so when you make mistakes like that you invariably get punished.

“It’s so difficult to stand there and watch us get beat. I don’t think you can say anyone has hid away from it tonight, it’s just we’ve made errors. Take them away from the first half and some of the approach play from us was good.”