Sheffield Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen praised his side's "strong" performance despite the Owls suffering a first defeat in four Championship matches against promotion-chasing Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium.

Morgan Whittaker scored the only goal of the game for Boro in the 11th minute when he capitalised on an error from defender Gabriel Otegbayo and rounded goalkeeper Murphy Cooper to break the deadlock.

It means Wednesday's winless run in the league has now stretched to 38 games, as they prepare for a campaign in League One next season.

Pedersen told BBC Radio Sheffield: "We had a strong, strong performance today.

"We started the game well, we were organised, and we were strong on the ball. Gabby made a back-pass to Murphy... it happens.

"After that, there was a difficult period, but we closed the first-half in a good way. In the second-half, for the first ten minutes, they have the ball more or less the whole time, but then we changed formation.

"For the last 30 minutes, I thought we were very strong in how we hunted the 1-1, how we pressed and how we were on the ball, but of course the last cross and last pass. Otherwise, it was a strong performance."