NOBODY is sprinting clear in the Championship just yet. Here we are, a third of the way through the race, and the front-runners continue to jostle for position, Middlesbrough among them.

It almost does not matter who is top at the moment, given that only nine points separate the top 15 clubs. The key is just to stay with the leading pack.

Tony Pulis does not expect that to change much. Middlesbrough’s manager has previous for getting out of the second tier, having taken Stoke to the Premier League in 2008. After his return to Staffordshire ended in a grim goalless draw, Pulis reflected on how much the Championship has changed in the decade since.

“I think the Championship has moved on since I was at Stoke and got promoted,” he said. “The teams are bigger, stronger and more organised. The managers have set their teams up well.

“There’s been a filtering down of very good players from the Premier League. The Premier League now holds 30 to 40 players (per squad) at times, so the quality has dropped into the Championship and made it a better league.”

A more cynical observer might suggest that the absence of a clear leader in the division signifies a lack of quality, but whatever your view on that score, there is no denying that this season’s Championship is brutal.

Just ask Saturday’s opponents. Stoke’s squad, full of players with extensive Premier League experience, is marooned in mid-table, having been the pre-season favourites of many experts to win the title. Gary Rowett, appointed in May to rebuild a club that has lost its way in the five-and-a-half years since Pulis left, is beginning to get the message through to his players as to just what is required to survive and prosper at this level.

The results will not always be pretty. If Saturday’s goalless draw is remembered at all, it will be for three reasons - the outstanding defensive performance of Danny Batth, the profligacy of Jordan Hugill, and the targeting for abuse of James McClean.

Quite why so many supporters think it is clever to single out McClean because he refuses to wear a poppy on his shirt is baffling, and to be clear, it was both home and away fans who barracked him when he came on as a substitute. None of them, it seemed, had read the section of the Royal British Legion website that states wearing a poppy is a personal choice.

Sadly, the abuse threatened to boil over into physical confrontation as McClean left the pitch at the end, with the midfielder posting on Instagram that objects had been thrown in his direction. It certainly got heated enough that Middlesbrough fans charged towards the front of the away section in anger, with stewards having to intervene. The whole episode was, frankly, pathetic.

Better, perhaps, to focus on the display of Batth, making a long-awaited first league start since his August loan move from Wolves. Whenever Middlesbrough needed him, the centre-back was there, making a magnificent block to deny Benik Afobe in the 11th minute and timing his challenge to prevent Saido Berahino scoring just before half-time. In the second half, he made an athletic clearance just as Afobe was shaping up for a volley - it was the sort of work that kept goalkeeper Darren Randolph well protected, even though the visitors only had 38.5 per cent possession.

For Pulis, it was a point well-earned in a season that has already stretched to 20 matches, thanks to Boro’s Carabao Cup run.

“You’ve got to give the lads credit,” Pulis said. “We’ve played another three-game week. That was our 20th game this season, and it’s been tough.

“This week coming up will be our first week off since the season started. So it’s tough, and you have to turn up every week and you have to play against teams who are strong physically, and who technically have good players.”

Still, one point would have been three had Hugill, on loan from West Ham, not struck his shot against the legs of goalkeeper Jack Butland in the second half, after pouncing on a Ryan Shawcross error to run clear.

Pulis was frustrated with his forward – not because of the miss, but because he had gone to ground too easily in search of free-kicks during the evening.

“We’ve sorted that out after the game,” the manager said. “I think he went down twice dramatically. I don’t like all that nonsense.”

Hugill has yet to recapture the form that prompted West Ham to pay Preston £8m for him last January. If he does, and cuts out the theatrics, then Middlesbrough should have no trouble keeping pace with the promotion pack, and may even come to lead it again. A return to the Premier League is more than on the cards thanks to the know-how of their manager - just do not expect it to be a straightforward ride.