Patrick Bamford admitted Boro's dressing room ached with disappointment after their FA Cup adventure came to an end at Arsenal.
A quick-fire brace from Olivier Giroud sent Boro spiralling to a 2-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium, with the Teessiders failing to pull off another Premier League giant-killing.
Striker Bamford was deployed on the right flank by Boro boss Aitor Karanka, the same as during the 2-0 win at Man City in the previous round, but the England Under-21s star endured a tough afternoon and was substituted on 54 minutes.
"I don't think we did ourselves justice today," the Chelsea loanee said.
"In the first half especially we didn't get tight enough, and if you don't get tight to players like (Mesut) Ozil and Santi Cazorla then things like this can happen.
"I think it could have been more than two-nil, to be honest. You could say there's now no distractions but I think everyone in the dressing room will be disappointed.
"I'm sure the fans will have enjoyed their day out coming to the Emirates but I think we let them down with our performance."
It was far from an ideal afternoon for Boro in North London, but redemption could come with victory at Birmingham on Wednesday.
Bamford will be hoping to continue his fine goalscoring form on Wednesday after finding the net three times in his last five appearances.
But when asked if Boro can draw any positives from their defeat ahead of a busy few weeks of Championship action, Bamford said the team should instead draw a line under the performance.
"I think we've got to totally forget about today," Bamford added.
"It was a nice thing for the club to be coming up against another big team like Arsenal after the Man City game, but it wasn't nice on the pitch.
"We'd have loved a cup run but it gives us chance to put all our focus on the league now."
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