PERSPECTIVE can sometimes be hard to achieve on a night as dramatic as Tuesday, but with the dust having finally settled on an explosive encounter at Turf Moor, Middlesbrough can still take considerable satisfaction from the position they find themselves in.

“I think everyone would have taken this if they’d been offered it at the start of the season,” said skipper Grant Leadbitter. “We’re on target to get where we wanted to be.”

Whether Tuesday’s promotion clash was one point gained or two points lost is irrelevant now; the most important thing is that it was another game successfully ticked off the list.

Three more to go now, and the equation remains simple. Win all three, and Boro will definitely be playing Premier League football next season. Two victories will suffice, provided that one comes against Brighton on the final day of the campaign.

Burnley and Brighton continue to pile on the pressure, with the latter in particularly fine form after following a resounding five-goal win over Fulham with a similarly emphatic 4-0 thrashing of QPR.

From a Boro perspective, though, none of that matters. Unlike last season, when the Teessiders desperately needed either Bournemouth or Watford to slip up in the last couple of games, this time around, Aitor Karanka’s players are masters of their own destiny. The success of their toils in the first 43 matches means they will dictate their fate via the three that remain.

“We’re on our target,” said Leadbitter. “When we set a target at the start of the season, we said we wanted two points a game, and we’re on target to get that.

“We were disappointed to concede the late goal (at Burnley), but I thought we were brilliant on the night. We deserved more than we got, but we took a point away with us and now we’ve only got three games left.

“We can still just concentrate on ourselves, and that’s what we’ve always wanted to do. We don’t have to worry about anyone else, and that’s the mind-set we’ve always had.

“Burnley are a good team – that’s the reason they’re fighting for promotion. Brighton are too. But so are Middlesbrough, and we’ll be ready to go again on Saturday.”

Unlike Burnley and Brighton, who play two of their final three matches away from home, Boro will stage two of their last three games at the Riverside.

Given they have only suffered two home defeats all season, that should be a considerable advantage, with the sold-out signs having already been posted for what could prove a final-day decider with Brighton.

The club’s home attendances have been gradually creeping up for the last two seasons, and on Tuesday, as well as selling out an away capacity of around 2,200 at Turf Moor, Boro also welcomed more than 7,000 supporters into the Riverside to watch a televised beam-back of the action.

The promotion push has captivated Teesside, but while Boro’s players are grateful for the growing support, they are also mindful of repaying those who have been with them all along. Leadbitter remembers the dark days under Gordon Strachan, when crowds dipped to close to 10,000, and hopes the die-hards are enjoying life at the top end of the table.

“The fans were magnificent down at Burnley, but then they have been all season,” he said. “We want to get promoted for them, and especially for the 15-17,000 that’s been coming every week for the last four years that I’ve been at the football club.

“They’ve been coming through thick and thin. It’s great to see more of the fans coming back, but it’s those people you really want to do it for, the ones that have been with us all the way.”

If Boro are to get over the line, the key will be a collective holding of nerve. With George Friend in grave danger of missing the rest of the season after damaging his hamstring on Tuesday, there will have to be a reshuffling of the back four. Ritchie de Laet proved an able deputy for Friend earlier in the campaign, and at least boasts the experienced required to slot in seamlessly once again.

Beyond that, Karanka is unlikely to make too many changes, and as ever, there will be a great deal of pressure on Leadbitter and Adam Clayton, who are so integral to the Spaniard’s 4-2-3-1 formation.

Composure will be key, of the sort displayed by Leadbitter at Turf Moor. Having confirmed his commitment when he thundered into the third-minute challenge on Joey Barton that earned him a booking, the 30-year-old held himself together brilliantly as he avoided the referee’s wrath for the remaining 87 minutes of the game. More of that will be required in the three-game run-in.

“That’s football,” said the midfielder. “I mistimed a tackle, but that’s no problem. I’m not going to be holding back just because of the position we’re in.”