PATRICK BAMFORD is hoping Middlesbrough will be this season’s ‘surprise packages’ who emerge from the middle of the Championship table to make a successful late surge into the play-offs.

Tuesday’s 3-1 win over Hull City took the Teessiders to within two places of the play-off positions, and they will hope to close that gap even further when they take on basement boys Sunderland at the Stadium of Light this weekend.

Despite starting the season as favourites to win automatic promotion, Boro have not filled a top-six spot since they slipped down the table in the wake of November’s resounding home defeat to Derby County. They dropped as low as tenth in the weeks before Garry Monk’s departure, but appear to be back on an upward curve, having won two of their last three games.

The history books suggest that much can change in the final few weeks of a Championship season, with at least one play-off place often going to a side that had looked unlikely contenders for much of the season, and with 13 games to go, Bamford sees no reason why Boro cannot thrust themselves back into the heart of the promotion mix.

“I think people have probably looked over us now, and are maybe thinking that we are done,” said the striker, who claimed his first goal since early December in Tuesday’s win. “People might be thinking that we’re not part of the pack chasing for the play-offs, but that’s not the case at all.

“There’s always one team in the division that comes flying at the finish, and hopefully that can be us. It’s a cliché, but we’ve just got to concentrate on each game as it comes because they’re all big matches now and we need to keep picking up points. If we’re consistent and put a run together, we can quickly make up a lot of ground.”

This has been a stop-start campaign for the Teessiders, with the opening weeks of the season requiring a period of acclimatisation in the wake of a summer managerial change and the influx of a host of new players.

Just as it looked as though Boro were starting to come to terms with Monk’s preferred style, performances dropped alarmingly and Steve Gibson opted to change manager, appointing Tony Pulis.

In terms of their tactical and stylistic approach, Pulis and Monk are effectively chalk and cheese, so it was probably always inevitable that there would be another period of flux in the immediate aftermath of the managerial switch.

Gradually, though, Boro’s players appear to be getting to grips with what their manager wants from them, and Bamford can only see further improvement in the final two-and-a-half months of the season.

“There was a big change in the summer,” he said. “A lot of new players came in, and there was obviously the new management too. That was always going to take time to get used to.

“Obviously things didn’t work out quite as Garry planned, although I think the players were starting to get the message just before the end. Obviously, the new gaffer has come in, and it’s the same kind of thing.

“It’s a change again, with new systems and new ideas, so it was always going to take a bit of time again. I think, as you can see now, we’re starting to get the idea, it’s just the transition from the way we used to defend to the pressing that we’re doing now that has to come across. I think it will only improve the more he works with us.”

That pressing is now a key part of Bamford’s game, with the 24-year-old regularly finding himself playing on the left-hand side rather than in his preferred role as a central strike.

Bamford has spent much of his Boro career in a wide position – Aitor Karanka often fielded him on the right-hand side of a front three – but whereas his former role was primarily attacking in nature, he now finds himself having to carry out a range of defensive duties.

“We played with a ten when Aitor was here, but when you play with more of a flat five, like we are at the moment, it’s probably more physically demanding when you’re playing out wide,” he said. “I think you can see that the team is dealing with that.

“At the minute, I’m playing out wide and having to put in a shift for the team. It’s what the manager needs, and it’s obviously a little bit different to what other managers have asked for. It’s nice, and it’s something else to learn. It’s going to help me as a player, and I’m just concentrating on trying to help the team, even if it is a lot of defensive work.”