The 54-year-old saw his side pass up a series of opportunities to secure a third win in six Barclays Premier League games and instead record a fourth draw as Boro were indebted to keeper Brad Jones for his one-man show at the death.

Both sides slipped into the bottom three as a result of the stalemate at the Riverside Stadium, but Allardyce was devastated not to be leaving with maximum points.

He said: "I am feeling like we have lost here today after what we have gone out and done on the field.

"To only come away with a point is bitterly disappointing for us. We feel we have thrown the opportunity, yet again, away to win a game of football we should have won.

"We can't find that ruthless edge to secure the three points and we keep throwing away opportunities to win.

"We are on a great undefeated run, but we have had too many draws and it's leaving us in a very difficult position because other teams are winning and picking up three points and we are left back in that bottom three again.

"We are undefeated in six Premier League games, but from that, we should have had at least four wins and two draws - and possibly more - and today should have been one of those wins.

"We are making life extremely hard for ourselves."

Rovers enjoyed the better of the first half and forced Jones into saves from Keith Andrews and Roque Santa Cruz.

However, it was inside the final eight minutes that they really should have made the pressure tell when substitutes David Dunn and Jason Roberts had ample opportunity to put Boro to the sword.

Dunn forced three fine saves from the Australian, while Roberts called him into action twice, with the second, a 95th-minute close-range header, a golden opportunity to snatch victory at the death.

However, Jones was equal to task, although his heroics could not prevent a Boro side without a win in 12 Premier League games, from sinking further into the mire in 19th place.

Manager Gareth Southgate admitted the game had been far from pretty, but was delighted with the effort put in by a team depleted by injuries and suspensions.

He said: "I have got to say it wasn't pretty, it wasn't the result you would have liked, but I am bloody proud of what they have done because they are a young group, they have come in in difficult circumstances and it was a difficult atmosphere for them to deal with.

"I have played here, the fans are fantastic. They are frustrated and it sometimes puts added pressure on the team.

"I have said to them I don't like the stick any more than they do - I'm getting it in the neck, they are, but so what? We will deal with it.

"We will come through it, we will answer all the criticism, we will continue to give absolutely everything we have got and at the end of the season, we will make sure we stay in this division.

"If we can do that with the age of the squad we have got and with everything we have had to deal with, then it will still be a reasonable achievement."

Meanwhile, Allardyce approached the final couple of days of the transfer window confident that striker Santa Cruz, who played the full 90 minutes, will remain his at 5pm on Monday evening.

He said: "He had a Blackburn shirt on today, and he will have one on next week."

Allardyce also confirmed he was aware of the dressing room bust-up between new signing El-Hadji Diouf and former Sunderland team-mate Anton Ferdinand before he signed him yesterday.

He said: "I spoke to [Sunderland chairman] Niall Quinn about it and he said it was not too much of an incident. It wasn't as big as it was blown up in the papers.

"Niall is a very trustworthy man and I believe every word he says. It's not a problem."

ends