DESPITE missing out on a seventh win in a row last night, Middlesbrough first team coach Mark Proctor wants supporters to turn out in force on Friday night with the prospect of climbing to the top of the Championship.

Boro extended their unbeaten run to eight matches at Nottingham Forest when a first clean sheet in 56 years at the City Ground helped preserve second place in the table.

Cardiff’s 5-4 defeat at Charlton and Crystal Palace’s 5-0 home win over Ipswich Town means there are new leaders, with Palace boosted by the appointment of new boss Ian Holloway by hitting first place.

But if Middlesbrough can overcome Sheffield Wednesday at the Riverside on Friday in front of the Sky Sports cameras then they will hit top spot for the first time since September last year.

And with incentivised cutprice ticket deals aimed at attracting a 20,000-plus crowd for the first time this season then Proctor is hoping the league situation will help.

“It’s a very good point here against a Forest team who have a really strong group of players,” said Proctor. “The lads have shown fantastic spirit after a third away game in a week to get a result.

“Hopefully we can continue our form on Friday. It would have been nice for seven wins in a row going into that. Hopefully we will get a great attendance and the fans will turn up in their numbers and this result has helped.”

After Saturday’s 4-1 victory at Charlton and last Tuesday night’s memorable Capital One Cup win over Premier League neighbours Sunderland, Middlesbrough failed to reach similar highs last night.

While Boro did have chances to win they could quite easily have had their six-match winning run come to an end courtesy of defeat against a Forest team intent on correcting the wrongs of a heavy defeat to Millwall just days earlier.

Proctor feels, inevitably, fatigue played its part in Middlesbrough’s dip in performance levels but that they can cope with another game on Friday.

“It’s Saturday-Wednesday- Saturday-Tuesday-Friday, it’s difficult in this league,” said Proctor. “We were at Charlton on Saturday, so a long journey, and we were a little jaded yet we showed our character in abundance to get a result.”

Proctor continued to do the media duties with manager Tony Mowbray still struggling with a virus, even though he spent the game in the dug-out.

Mowbray is expected to be at the Riverside on Friday, when skipper Jonathan Woodgate is likely to be back in the fold after being rested last night. Full-back Stuart Parnaby, meanwhile, could be absent after being forced off with groin trouble.

“We took Stu off as a precaution,” said Proctor. “We will assess him in the morning.

Lukas Jutkiewicz ran out of gas a little and Scott Mc- Donald’s adrenaline rush over the last few weeks caught up with him in the end with a bad knock. Nothing too heavy though.

“I’m sure we can cope with another game on Friday. We have a bigger squad this year.

We will count up who is fit and get a game plan ready for Friday. It’s another difficult game.”