MIDDLESBROUGH know a point on the final day of the season will finally end the seven-year wait for Premier League football, but Aitor Karanka and his players have been warned that Brighton “will be up to the challenge” of stopping them.

Burnley sealed a return to the top-flight by defeating Queens Park Rangers and that has left Boro and Brighton to battle it out for the second automatic promotion spot when they go head-to-head at the Riverside on Saturday.

Brighton, like Middlesbrough at Birmingham on Friday night, had to settle for a draw when James Wilson struck a 94th-minute equaliser against play-off contenders Derby County at the Amex Stadium.

Seagulls’ skipper Lewis Dunk was sent off for a second bookable offence in that fixture so he will be suspended for the trip to Teesside, when Brighton know only a win will earn them promotion.

The Northern Echo: Leveller: Brighton's James Wilson (second left) celebrates scoring his side's goal against Derby in stoppage-time

Leveller: Brighton's James Wilson, second left, celebrates scoring his side's goal against Derby in stoppage-time

But Chris Hughton, the Brighton manager, is confident his players can still inflict the first home defeat on Middlesbrough since January and condemn them to a play-off spot for the second year in a row.

Hughton said: “We must win and if somebody had told us that would be what we needed at the beginning of the season then we would have bitten their hands off.

“Most challenges we have risen to this season and this will be a very big challenge. It is one we will look forward to.

"We will do everything right building up to it, and we will look to a very tough game and an exciting one.”

Hughton was in charge of Newcastle when they won the Championship in 2010 and he also managed Norwich City in the Premier League, but he does not think his previous achievements will count for much when the first whistle blows on Saturday.

He said: “My experience will count somewhat, but the large majority will be down to the group of players and how quickly we put this game against Derby behind us.”

Brighton would have had to have won at the Riverside even if Wilson had not equalised against Derby, but his manager hopes extending the unbeaten run to 12 matches will keep his players in the right frame of mind ahead of the Middlesbrough test.

Hughton said: “It is more about momentum. It showed when we went down to ten men how much we wanted to get back into this game. The way the game panned out, there wasn’t a lot between the two teams.

“Out of the three teams we have had hardest games to finish with. We have got consistency in level of performance. They have shown great character to get through tricky moments and then we have found a way to score goals which is what we were not able to do earlier in the season.

“We have a good group, a lot of experience and they have thoroughly enjoyed it and deserved it. My role can only take it so far, it’s about them producing on the day.”

Burnley moved two points clear of Boro and Brighton courtesy of Sam Vokes' winner just after the hour. The Clarets are now guaranteed to win the Championship if they win at Charlton next week.

Sean Dyche, the Burnley boss, said: "We were off our performance level, but our resilience and work ethic got us a massive win.

"Ian Holloway called us two years ago by saying 'we had the strongest jaw' and that's what it is ... we have the strongest jaw.

"We don't think we are the real deal but we are a real group of people and that's what the success comes from.

"It's been a different journey this year to two years ago when we went up under the radar. Twenty-two unbeaten since Boxing Day and finishing with promotion? That is unbelievable in my book."