ANDY HALLIDAY thinks Middlesbrough have one of the best squads in the Championship and has urged his team-mates to prove it by reviving the club’s ailing promotion hopes.

Boro have slipped to five points adrift of the play-off zone after a horrendous start to 2013, which has seen them win just two of their 13 league outings since the turn of the year.

Such form is a far cry from the way they looked automatic promotion contenders before Christmas, with Tony Mowbray’s summer of rebuilding looking as if it would bring immediate rewards.

It is the first half of the campaign which Halliday admits every member of the squad must remember – to highlight what they are capable of during a period when confidence has disappeared from much of Middlesbrough’s play.

“There have been massive changes here, even in my time at the club, so we shouldn’t forget that,” said Halliday, who signed a new two-and-ahalf year contract two weeks ago.

“Maybe we were spoiled by the start we had to the season because the gaffer had very little to deal with and he managed to bring in a lot of quality players. They did the business at the start of the season.

“But what we have to remember is that we still achieved great things in our start, we have to hold on to that as a sign of what we are capable of.

“If we finished as well as we started then we would be going into these final eight games with a very positive attitude.

We have got to try to find that sort of attitude again.

“I still don’t think we are that far away. Performances have been frustrating. Seven points from 39 is relegation form if anything, so we have to change that very quickly.”

Boro head for Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday in desperate need of an away win. Ten defeats from their last 13 league fixtures is the worst run of form in the division.

But Halliday said: “When you look at the squad we have got we have one of the strongest in this league, without a shadow of a doubt. It just comes down to confidence or a lack of it and we have to just battle through that.

“At the end of the day it shows you how good or bad you are when you hit bad spells, it’s how you react.

“We have to start to pick up results again, show people what we are made of and hopefully that will start next week at Wolves.”

Reclaiming a play-off spot would be the tonic to a year Halliday can take a great deal of satisfaction from on a personal level.

The 21-year-old has finally broken into the first team under Mowbray after being forced to bide his time after Gordon Strachan took him from Livingston in the summer of 2010.

There was a time earlier in the campaign when he felt like the time might be right to move on at the end of his previous contract, which was due to expire in the summer.

But Halliday said: “I knew that, coming into this season, it was going to be pretty much make or break for me at Middlesbrough.

“It started slowly but I got my chance through someone else’s misfortune.

“It started for me at Ipswich and I did OK. I took my chance. I got a run of games and it’s been rewarded with this contract.

“When you looked at it I had not played any games when the first contract had been offered.

“That was only for a year as well, so when that got offered I must admit I honestly thought I wouldn’t be able to sign it. Now I’m just looking forward to trying to get this fantastic club back in the Premier League.”