FOR MANY of Middlesbrough’s 3,800 travelling supporters, their team’s 2-0 victory at Huddersfield will have been forgotten by the time they got to Wetherby services.

We are constantly reminded that this game is a results business, which is just as well, because if Middlesbrough were scored on their performance on Saturday, they would have come out second best to a Huddersfield Town side rejuvenated by new manager David Wagner.

But under Aitor Karanka, and with experienced heads in the side, Boro are a professional, savvy team, and they scored their goals at the right time – at the beginning and at the end, courtesy of Adam Clayton and Emilio Nsue – to eke out victory which propelled the Teessiders into the automatic promotion places in the Championship.

Never mind that Boro had 25% possession and just two chances, and never mind that for long spells, Karanka’s side had to dig in and absorb the pressure from Wagner’s men, for the result was the most important factor of the day. Middlesbrough, instead, can save their silky passing football for another day.

It was a rotten day for football, with a heavy wind which could not make its mind up which way to blow, and a horizontal drizzle that rendered the sprinkler systems at the John Smith’s Stadium redundant.

From the Terriers to the Toffees, Boro have a day to prepare before welcoming Everton in the quarter-final of the Capital One Cup. Karanka knows that the work on the training ground needs to be of a sufficient quality.

“If we play the way we did in the first half on Saturday we’ll be losing five or six nil,” said Karanka ahead of tomorrow night’s game. “We have to learn and know that motivation and attitude is going to be completely different, because it’s not the same to play at Huddersfield than it is at home to Everton.

“We played well against Manchester United and last season against the Premier League teams, so I’m looking forward to the game.

“At Huddersfield I wasn’t happy with the first half because we prepared to go on to the pitch in a certain way and we did not do it. They weren’t playing the way we like to play, they were disorganised, but we got to half-time winning.

“If they had scored the first goal it would have been 2- or 3-1 to them because they had a lot of chances. In the second half we were more organised and we had chances, and that was enough.

“In this league you never can be relaxed, because all they had to do was score from a corner or if they scored on 90, 91 minutes, they’d have a chance. We’ve won the game, now we’ve got 36 points from 18 games.”

Karanka, who was critical of the home support at the Riverside last week after Boro’s 1-0 win over Queens Park Rangers, was more complimentary about the away fans who made the relatively short trip to West Yorkshire.

“Last week I said something about the crowd and everybody was upset, and on Saturday I have to say that I was really pleased with them,” admitted the head coach.

“I said the things I did last Friday because I thought after that game in the two years I’ve been here, it has been 99% one way and 1% the other. I’m really pleased. I know how demanding they are.”

Middlesbrough took the lead through former Terriers midfielder Clayton, who fired home a deflected effort past Huddersfield goalkeeper Jed Steer after bundling his way through the Town defence.

The Terriers almost replied instantly through former Bradford striker Nahki Wells who hit the crossbar from a free-kick

Dimi Konstantopoulos saved superbly from the advancing Wells, before Sean Scannell was denied by Boro’s keeper from close range after Ben Chilwell’s low cross.

This was Wagner’s second game in charge of Town, and much was made about his philosophy of pressing football, which Huddersfield maintained for much of the first half without any real rewards. In fact, Huddersfield only really sprang to life in the last ten minutes, when substitute Flo Bojaj shinned a tame shot goalwards after a low cross rebounded into his path.

But Middlesbrough held firm, and moments later put the game beyond Huddersfield’s grasp when Nsue got forward with George Friend, exchanging passes with substitute Adam Forshaw before guiding a low shot past Steer.

The game was billed as a clash of the assistants, with Wagner having assisted Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund, and Karanka with Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid, and the aftermath saw plenty of respect between the two coaches who are both taking their first steps in club managers, with Karanka two years further down the line than Wagner.

“It wasn’t a surprise to see them play that way,” admitted Karanka. “I was showing the team the video from their game against Sheffield Wednesday and all the things we had heard about their new coach – I knew they would try to play, that they would be aggressive on the pitch, it was the first game with the new coach and we did our job. We knew that with the quality we have in our squad that the second goal would come.

"I know Dean Whitehead here, he's one of our former players and he's told me that under the new manager there's a really good feeling. If I had any advice to give to him, it would be to keep going with his philosophy and to stick with it.

“He's lost two games but when I arrived I had defeats in three of my first five matches and the club trusted me to see us through to the position we're now in. I think he can do a really good job here."

Wagner said: "We played some good football, exactly the style I like to play, full throttle on the front foot.

"Middlesbrough had two chances and scored twice but that's the way it goes sometimes. I'm confident about the future of this team after a couple of weeks here. We need to keep developing and to keep improving, but for me the future looks bright.”