Middlesbrough: 'We've given ourselves a realistic chance of survival', says Adam Forshaw

Boro moved to within six points of safety when they edged out Sunderland at the Riverside, and while they only have four more games to play, another win at the weekend could significantly change the picture at the foot of the table.

That might be easier said than done given that Boro will host a Manchester City side desperate for points to aid their pursuit of a Champions League place, but for the first time since mid-December, the Teessiders will at least be going into Sunday’s game on the back of a victory.

Some of the gloom that accompanied last weekend’s thrashing at Bournemouth has disappeared, and while the odds remain stacked against them, Boro’s players will continue to target a dramatic escape for as long as it remains mathematically possible.

“We’ve given ourselves a chance, and that’s all we could do, said Forshaw, who made only his second start under Steve Agnew in Wednesday’s win. “We’ve just got to try to beat the opposition, and obviously we did that against Sunderland.

“Three points was the most we could get, and we got them. Hopefully, we can push on now and get something against Manchester City. It’s a pretty simple equation now – we just have to win.”

This week’s derby win ended a run of 16 league games without a victory, and while it came against the worst side in the division, it has still helped to engender confidence.

After following up August’s win over Sunderland with further successes against Bournemouth, Hull and Swansea, Boro’s players had forgotten how to take three points, and the last four months have seen them slide into the bottom three.

It will still take a remarkable feat for them to extricate themselves from the relegation zone, but Wednesday’s performance at least proved that a degree of spirit and unity remains.

That wasn’t immediately apparent at Bournemouth last weekend, but unlike at the Vitality Stadium, when some Boro players appeared to down tools, Wednesday’s victory came courtesy of the kind of battling display that was the Teessiders’ forte in the first half of the season.

They will need to repeat that if they are going to follow up with another win against Manchester City, but having claimed a point at the Etihad Stadium in November, Forshaw insists a resurgent Boro have nothing to fear.

“It’s massive for your confidence and belief to win again,” he said. “Just to get that winning feeling again is great, you thrive on that and that’s what we want to do every week. We haven’t done it enough this year, so it’s good to get over the line.

“As the manager has said, we’ve been really close on a number of occasions to getting that win and being able to really push on. Now, we’ve finally done it. We didn’t play the best football at times, but we dug deep when we had to.

“We have to show a togetherness. We’ve still got a fighting chance, and we’ve just got to keep going and try to get some more wins.

“First and foremost, the effort has to be there from the team, and it certainly was against Sunderland. Sometimes, maybe confidence levels are low when you’re up against it, and it can be hard to really express yourself, but the minimum is that you work hard and put a shift in for the team.”

Boro’s players celebrated on the pitch at the final whistle of Wednesday’s game, with the joy of the home fans contrasting sharply with the anger that was directed from the away end towards Sunderland’s players and the Black Cats’ under-fire manager, David Moyes.

Beating the only side below them in the table is hardly a stellar achievement, but Boro’s players have at least stopped a losing habit that was threatening to become endemic.

“It was relief more than anything really,” said Forshaw. “You could see the smiles back on people’s faces after the game, and hopefully that leads to a bit more confidence and belief. It doesn’t stop there though. We have to keep training hard and working hard, and hopefully we’ll get three more points on Sunday.”