A JUBILANT Aitor Karanka last night hailed a “massive moment” in the promotion race as Middlesbrough moved back into a top-two position with a 1-0 win at Derby County.

Patrick Bamford’s second-half strike settled a keenly-contested encounter at the Ipro Stadium, and enabled Boro to open up a two-point gap to third-placed Bournemouth and a four-point advantage over Norwich and Derby, who are in fourth and fifth respectively.

Having swept aside Ipswich at the weekend, Boro had to work much harder against a Derby side who have suffered a slump in form at the worst possible moment.

They travel to Bournemouth on Saturday for another potentially decisive encounter, and with this week’s schedule having been highlighted as a key run of games for quite some time, even Karanka has been surprised with how well his side have responded to the challenge of facing their promotion rivals. 

“It’s a massive win for us against one of the best teams in the league,” said the Boro head coach. “I just have to say thanks to the players because all of them were brilliant.

“We are in a much better position now than we were one or two weeks ago. After our defeat in Nottingham, if someone had told me we would be in this situation now, I would have thought he was crazy.

“We are in that position, and we have to realise how difficult it has been to get into it. It is going to be difficult to win every single point from now on, but that is what we have to try to do.”

Bamford was a key figure as his two goals helped secure a 4-1 win over Ipswich at the weekend, and he was at the heart of the action again as his second-half winner silenced the Derby fans who had been jeering him throughout.

The Chelsea loanee turned down the chance to return to the Ipro Stadium last summer, having scored eight goals in 23 games while on loan with the Rams last season, and Derby’s loss was certainly Boro’s gain as he rounded Lee Grant in the 64th minute before slotting home.

It was Bamford’s 14th Championship goal of the season, but the 21-year-old almost wasn’t on the pitch to score it after struggling with an illness on Monday night.

“It was a difficult game for him because he played here last season,” said Karanka. “Everybody knew him, so it was more difficult to surprise them. But once again, he was very good.

“He had been a little bit ill on the night before the game, but he wanted to play and once again, he has been very important for the team.”

At the other end of the field, club captain Jonathan Woodgate was equally influential as he made only his second Championship start of the season.

“I told the players after the game that, for me, the spirit of the team now is Woody’s spirit,” said Karanka. “He is the captain, and even though he was close to retiring five months ago, now he is a vital player for us. He has always been important in the changing room, but now he is also crucial on the pitch.”

Derby boss Steve McClaren admitted the result had dealt a serious blow to his side’s promotion hopes, but refused to criticise his players’ efforts.

“It’s a disappointing result,” said the former Boro manager. “It was always going to be a one-goal game.

“I couldn't ask any more of the players, they were magnificent but we just lacked that cutting edge in the final third. They had that one quality moment in the box and you lose a game on that. Everyone is suffering at the moment, but this is a test of the team and there is still everything to play for.”

The only sour note on an otherwise excellent day for Boro was full-back Damia Abella’s appearance in a court in Spain as part of a case linked to allegations of match fixing.

Abella, who has not played since suffering a serious knee injury in September, appeared at the Osasuna Palace of Justice as part of a match-fixing trial involving Espanyol and Osasuna, with the Spanish media claiming he had been charged with an offence.

The 32-year-old was summoned by Judge Fermin Otamendi as part of the ‘Osasuna-gate’ case, which relates to alleged match fixing and the misappropriation of €2.4m of funds. “We are not going to make comments about this thing,” said Karanka.