Boro still confident of beating the drop (From The Northern Echo)

Boro still confident of beating the drop

9:28am Friday 3rd April 2009

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GARETH SOUTHGATE feels like the whole world has written off Middlesbrough’s chances of survival, but remains confident that his squad are determined to prove them wrong.

Boro travel to Lancashire this afternoon ahead of tomorrow’s game at one of their relegation rivals, Bolton Wanderers.

It will be Boro’s first outing since the demoralising defeat at Stoke City 13 days ago, when hopes of keeping topflight football on Teesside took a huge knock.

The Britannia Stadium was also the scene of a minority of Boro fans turning on Southgate, calling for his removal after an alarming run of one win in 18 Premier League matches.

On the back of those events, chairman Steve Gibson was quick to support his manager by insisting that Southgate will not be sacked before the end of the season; such an outcome is also unlikely in the summer.

Having spent much of the last fortnight on the training ground, weighing up the plan of action for the remaining eight matches, Southgate has been buoyed by the mood.

“There’s a belief we can get there,” said Southgate, still four points adrift of safety.

“There’s a realisation of the situation and we have been able stick together as a group.

“We have to give credit to the mentality. My staff have managed the situation well because it would have been easy to have complete depression around the place right now.

“But anyone who has been around here knows that it is not like that. If there was infighting it would be hard but it’s not. The fact we have had strong leadership from the top (Gibson) has also helped because it calms any situations down and allows us to focus on the most important thing: keeping this team up.”

In a desperate attempt to cure the goalscoring problem his team have, Southgate has decided to go on the offensive at the Reebok Stadium.

He is ready to recall Brazilian Afonso Alves, likely to be part of a four-pronged attack that will include Tuncay Sanli and Stewart Downing pushed on.

Southgate, however, knows another important factor could be the reaction of the 1,700 away fans towards his players just two weeks after there were signs that they were turning against the manager.

“You accept criticism. Emotions run deeply and we were as emotional as the fans after that Stoke game,” said Southgate.

“You have to lead through difficult times and you have to accept these are difficult times.

“But all of my staff and players need leading through and not at any stage have I ever thought about walking away. That’s a selfish act, if anything it leaves more problems than what gets resolved.

“Everyone will be stronger for this experience. You have to suffer at times. The fans are right behind us and we have sold our allocation at Bolton.

We will have fantastic backing.”

■ Season card holders can buy cut-price tickets for friends and family for Boro’s home game with Hull on April 11. Additional seats can be bought at a discounted price of two for £20 up to a maximum of ten tickets.

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