PRESSURE is growing on Middlesbrough to turn things around, admits head coach Aitor Karanka as he tries to claim the points in the battle to beat the drop.

Relegation worries have increased after losing at Crystal Palace last weekend when Boro dropped to within a place of the bottom three.

Only goal difference prevents them from occupying a place in the relegation zone ahead of the trip to mid-table Stoke City today.

Karanka maintains his way will keep Premier League football at the Riverside for a further year, even if he knows that improvements need to be made.

He thinks the heat is increasing on him and the players deliver the victories to keep them up, and described how it feels different to needing the points for promotion rather than relegation.

He said: "Of course the more games you lose, the more pressure you have. The only thing we can do is to work together and work harder. Of course there will be pressure until the last day of the season.

“We knew back in August that we would have to fight until the end. I didn't know this league, but I knew how tough it would be.

“Of course I understand the fans feel the pressure as well. I'm enjoying the challenge and I think the fans are as well. They didn't like spending six years in the Championship, they know how difficult it is being in the Premier League again but they must try to enjoy it and to encourage the team in the way that they are doing.”

Karanka infamously was told not to take charge of a game at Charlton last March after a storming out of a team meeting at the training ground with his squad during the build-up. That was a moment when he was accused of not being able to handle the pressures of a promotion race, something he disputed.

Karanka, whose side have not won since before Christmas in the league, said: "The pressure is different to last season, because the pressure is not to win every single game, last year we had one of the best squads in the league and we'd go into every game expected to win.

“The approach to the games is completely different. Last season, we were winning almost every week, the last few weeks we were unbeaten, for the last ten games. We're now, I don't know how many months, without a win, so it's completely different and the way to transmit confidence is completely different for the players.”

Karanka, whose side have failed to score in six of their nine matches without a win, insists he is trying different things to turn the situation around.

He said: "There are things we are trying to do, for two or three weeks we've been training to play quicker and doing exercises on the pitch to get the ball to the box quicker and to get more players into the box. We tried it against West Brom, Everton and Oxford but when you change things from one day to the next, it's difficult.”