AITOR KARANKA wants Middlesbrough to prove they can handle the pressure of leading from the front in the Championship’s promotion race after another weekend of slip-ups by those competing for a top two spot.

Despite a positive start and taking the lead at Nottingham Forest when Grant Leadbitter’s deflected cross dropped over the line in the first half, Boro were unable to build on that advantage.

Forest ended up scoring twice through Gary Gardner and Dexter Blackstock to leave Middlesbrough pointless and it prevented them from moving clear at the pinnacle of the Championship.

The Teessiders, though, were not the only side in the hunt for promotion to waste chances to take command at the top. Derby County let a two-goal lead against Birmingham disappear in injury-time, while free-scoring Watford had to settle for a point at Wolves.

Middlesbrough, Derby and Watford are all level on points with leaders Bournemouth with ten matches remaining and Karanka admits the set of players who are more comfortable with their position could end up playing in the Premier League next season.

“I used to be a player, so I know what it takes,” said the former Real Madrid defender. “If you want to win something, reach something, you have to play under pressure. We need to learn how to play under pressure because every single game is going to be played under pressure at this stage of the season.

“I have never played in the Championship but when you are a player you think differently. I have to try to understand as much as I can to motivate them and to tell them how much good work we have done in this moment to get where we are.

“I loved to play under pressure. The most important games are those that the players like to play, not all of the players are the same. Some can manage better. Have to try to help them get better.”

Having only taken on his first frontline senior management job 15 months ago, Karanka is still coming to terms with the emotions he goes through himself when he is standing in the technical areas.

He said: “As a player you are yourself, you can manage your own pressure but as a manager you have to manage 25 different players. This is my first year and a half as a manager and I have to learn.

“It is difficult to deal with but I prefer to be positive and if we are in this position now it is because we are doing well in this league, I can’t imagine not being able to finish in this way.”

Middlesbrough could have gone three points clear had they not let Forest become only the second team to defeat them under Karanka’s leadership after the North-East club have gone in front.

And he was far from happy knowing it was a missed opportunity ahead of facing promotion rivals Ipswich, Derby and Bournemouth in the next three matches.

He said: “We have had nine games in one month and it was impossible to get on the training ground properly. We will learn now, I have not liked the last three of four games. We have one week to get back to our style of three weeks ago.”

Middlesbrough are sitting in a strong position for promotion, but Karanka knows his team have not been as effective as they were during the first six weeks after Christmas.

Karanka hopes the absence of a midweek fixture to deal with will help when they face Ipswich this Saturday, when defender Daniel Ayala has a chance of being fit after ankle trouble.

It is also hoped that winger Mustapha Carayol will be fitter to figure more than he has since his return from ten months out with knee ligament damage.

“We are disappointed because we knew we played against a good team, a team which was in a good run and with good players,” said Karanka, who should find out the extent of the hamstring problem Ryan Fredericks sustained later today.

“I think we have done the most difficult thing which was to score the first goal and then after that we lost control of the ball. But the best thing is we are still at the top of the table (level on points) despite losing.

“Every day I learn about my players and my work. I need to keep learning and this is one of those days again. One thing that can determine who wins this league will be who deals with the pressure. The team that manages the pressure best has more chance of going up.”