Boro captain ready to go again

Boro captain ready to go again

As the domestic season is set to resume again this weekend, Middlesbrough skipper Matthew Bates has been in reflective mood about how his team have progressed in the last year.

After a poor first season back in the Championship last year, Tony Mowbray’s men have hit the ground running this time around to sit 3rd in the table as we approach the busy Christmas period. Even as far as mobile casinos online experts are concerned, this is a significant improvement.

Bates has been heavily involved of course and he admits that things have been so crazy over the last few months that it has been refreshing to be able to sit down and reflect on things in the last two weeks or so.

The Boro skipper said: “It's been a massive turnaround for us and it's good to stake a step back and see just how far we've come in a short time. We were second bottom of the league just 13 months ago and we're third top now.”

Despite the improvement, Bates knows that there is still a long way to go in the Championship season and that he and his team need to remain on top of their game if they are to remain in the promotion picture.

He continued: “We're not punching above our weight, we're where we are because we deserve to be. We're coming into the middle part of the season now so it's not about luck, it's about good team performances.”

"But we know it's a long season and it's a hard league. We've just got to keep picking up points and hopefully we'll be there come the end of the season.”
“It's been nice to have a break and a bit of rest and recovery and we'll be back at it again against Blackpool.”

This is the next challenge for Middlesbrough of course, a home game with Ian Holloway’s men on Saturday afternoon. It will be a tough one – the Tangerines are 5th in the table – but Boro will hope they will have enough to get the three points.

They would also love a few more goals too. They have only scored ten goals in eight home games this year, so it would be positive going forward if they were a little more ruthless in front of goal.

Having said that, Mowbray’s men are unbeaten on home soil in the league this year and as long as this continues they will be up there with the rest of the promotion candidates for the rest of the campaign.

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