Middlesbrough 1 Ipswich Town 3: Opening day brings Boro's first home loss of year but Strachan accepts Ipswich merited their win

The bookies' favourites led at the break through Scott McDonald's goal but lost their way after Roy Keane's polished side scored twice in two minutes with a deflected strike from Tommy Smith and Tamas Priskin's effort early in the second half to take control, then Jon Stead sealed it late on.

It was Boro's first league defeat at the Riverside Stadium in 2010.

"We can have no complaints," said Strachan. "The better side won. "In the first half we did alright but football can be a cruel game.

"I thought the massive deflection for their first goal was a bit unfair because it was going well wide but we needed to settle down for five minutes and take control and we didn't do that.

"We had some good chances at that stage and had a couple of one-on-one chances but failed to take them. We needed to be positive but we were negative. We have only ourselves to blame."

Boro suffered an early blow as midfielder Willo Flood was carried off with a dislocated knee after a tangle with team-mate Matthew Bates.

Boro took the lead when Julio Arca put a cushioned header across the face of goal for McDonald to stoop and nod home from six yards out.

But the visitors came out fighting after the break and on 50 minutes, defender Smith picked up a poor defensive header and lashed a 25-yard shot into a crowded box that took a massive deflection off Bates and flew past stranded Danny Coyne.

A minute later Carlos Edwards surged towards the corner flag on the right and turned neatly to drill in a low cross for Priskin to burst forward and he launched into a powerful close range diving header.

Ipswich sealed victory as substitute Jon Stead scored on 77 minutes, slamming home gratefully after a lob into the box from Norris took a deflection and landed right at his feet 12 yards out.

Middlesbrough: Coyne, Bates, Wheater, McManus, Hoyte (Kink 60), Flood (Arca 11), Bailey, Thomson, Robson, McDonald, Boyd. Unused substitutes: Steele, Lita, Miller, Luke Williams, Grounds.

Ipswich Town: Fulop, Peters, McAuley, Smith, Kennedy (Ainsley 89), Edwards (Lambe 64), Hyam, Leadbitter, Norris, Priskin (Stead 74), Walters. Unused substitutes: Murphy, Brown, Healy, Hourihane.

Referee: Tony Bates (Staffordshire).

Man of the match: Carlos Edwards.