GRANT LEADBITTER is hoping his Middlesbrough team-mates’ international experience will prove the key to winning the Championship promotion battle.

Boro head into the final two games of the season locked together on points with Burnley and Brighton, and the outcome of the automatic promotion race could be decided by who is able to hold their nerve.

While the Brighton squad in particular have little experience of playing in such a high-pressure environment, Boro boast a number of players who have played on an even bigger stage.

Stewart Downing boasts 35 England caps, Gaston Ramirez and Cristhian Stuani have both played for Uruguay in the World Cup finals and Jordan Rhodes, David Nugent, Albert Adomah and Emilio Nsue have all represented their country.

“When I look around the dressing room, I see exactly the group of players I would want,” said Boro skipper Grant Leadbitter. “When you look around the changing room, you’ve got good characters in there, but you’ve also got a lot of quality players.

“We’ve got four or five international players in the dressing room, and those players are going to be crucial at this stage of the season. We’re all happy with each other and looking forward to the run in.”

Having ceded top spot when Burnley claimed a 1-0 win at Preston on Friday night, Boro were unable to reclaim pole position as they failed to see off an Ipswich side that are stranded in mid-table.

Their failure to convert any of the chances that came their way was a disappointment, but Leadbitter insists his side remain extremely well placed ahead of the final two matches.

They travel to Birmingham on Friday before hosting Brighton on the final day of the season, and know back-to-back victories will ensure they finish in the top two.

“We’re still in a very good position and with two games to go it’s still in our hands,” said Leadbitter. “We know what we’ve got to do.

“We’ll go into the Birmingham game confident, very confident. You saw from our performance against Ipswich that we’re in a confident mood.

“If we were going into the game without creating chances, I would be a bit worried. But you only have to look at the amount of chances we created to see how well the team is playing. We did that in a pressure situation as well.

“I thought we were excellent (against Ipswich). We had plenty of chances, but unfortunately they didn’t go into the back of the net. But we’re still in a great position. We’ve got two games to go, we’re second in the league and it’s onwards and upwards.”