Tony Pulis watches Middlesbrough ease past Boton Wanderers and new manager leaves impressed with his side

Tony Pulis was impressed with his first look at his new Middlesbrough team – but has warned his new employers not to expect miracles in the remainder of the season.

Pulis watched from the Riverside stands as second-half goals from Martin Braithwaite and Britt Assombalonga secured a 2-0 win over Bolton.

The 59-year-old, who was dismissed from his previous job at West Brom in late November, replaces Garry Monk, who was sacked less than four hours after overseeing a victory at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.

Monk left a club in the Sky Bet Championship’s top 10, but, while Pulis will be tasked with securing Boro an immediate return to the Premier League following last season’s relegation, he accepts it will be a challenge to make it out of the second tier.

“I’m not going to turn water into wine,” he said. “I have to make sure that I have a good look at the place before I start making any predictions. What I will say is that there was some very good play from us at times (on Tuesday). I liked the attitude in the dressing room at half-time too – it was very good.

“The club is ninth in the division (at the start of the day), but if everything at the club was spot on and working well, I wouldn’t be here talking. Garry still would be. There are problems, and there have been problems here. It’s just about finding out what they are.

“The best thing we can do is get this club winning again, get the team winning, and get back in the Premier League, but that does take time. For me to stand up after being here for 12 or 13 hours (and talk about winning promotion), it’s too much to ask.”

Pulis had been linked with the vacant managerial positions at Swansea, Rangers and Wales, and the new Middlesbrough manager has revealed he did receive alternative offers before agreeing to move to the Riverside.

He said: “I thought I was going to have a bit of time off. I’d had a couple of phone calls from other clubs before (Boro chairman) Steve (Gibson) spoke to me, but I desperately wanted to have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at home with my wife, children and grandchildren. I’d promised them that would be the case.

“I had a long chat with Steve after they had won at Sheffield Wednesday, and he kept ringing me from that point onwards. I said I’d come up to meet him, and I left Bournemouth early at about six o’clock (on Tuesday morning) to come up.

“I had breakfast, and I’d half made my mind up I wanted to come anyway, but I just wanted to clarify it face to face. He sold the club to me.”

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Bolton remained rooted in the bottom three, and while they shocked promotion-seeking Cardiff at the Macron Stadium on Saturday, their search for a first away win of the season goes on.

“We looked a threat and got in some good positions, but it’s about seeing the game through,” Bolton boss Phil Parkinson said.

“The first goal was a ball down the side and Wheats (David Wheater) got across well, but a deflection carried the ball over Ben Alnwick’s head. The second one is just that split-second of concentration that has cost us.

“We had a good result at the weekend against Cardiff, and it will have taken something out of us. This was always going to be tough, but we’ve just got to regroup and pick ourselves back up for Sheffield United at the weekend.”

PA