NIGEL Clough said his team were "incredibly unfortunate" not to win the game after Middlesbrough scored a late equaliser to deny the Brewers three points.
The Albion boss said: "It was an unbelievable effort by the players and a quality performance as well and we were extremely unfortunate not to get a win out of the game.
"We started well and took the game to Middlesbrough. We restricted them to very few chances and then they score in the 90th minute with one that has just looped off the bar. Half an inch either way and it goes over the bar or we clear it.
"We had chances to make it 2-0 as well today and that's the only thing we coud have done better. We had enough situations to have gone on and got that second goal. We thought Lloyd Dyer would be key and he got a good cross in for Marvin Sordell and it was a good finish - and that should have been enough for the three points."
Clough says that the late equaliser was a body blow.
"The players are dejected. When you are a professional and have put in as much effort as we have done over the last two games at Cardiff and here today, to get one point out of six is very disappointing. The result was very, very harsh on us today.
"It's not last chance saloon yet but it almost is as we now need to win the majority of our games to stand a chance and just getting three points would have put a bit of pressure on Birmingham.
"We have played well against two of the top sides in the division and you wouldn't think there are so many mllions between the budgets and a big difference in the sizes of the clubs on the last couple of games."
The manager also paid tribute to the ground staff for getting the game on despite incessant rain.
He said: "It was a tremendous effort from our groundsman Simon Marshall and all the staff to get the game on despite the terrible weather."