AITOR KARANKA does not think Middlesbrough are suffering from tiredness and believes his promotion-chasers can climb back into the Championship’s top two by securing back-to-back wins tonight.

Boro returned to winning ways against Huddersfield on Saturday to keep the pressure on the rest of the pack, but the manner of the performance was hardly that of promotion contenders.

However, it was all about winning and Lee Tomlin’s double and goalkeeping heroics from Dimi Konstantopoulos ensured that Middlesbrough stayed within sight of the top two ahead of the visit of Cardiff City to the Riverside Stadium tonight.

Prior to that Boro had won just one of their previous four league matches, failing to score in three, to raise slight concerns. Karanka, however, is satisfied that in defeating the Terriers there should be a more confident approach in facing the mid-table Bluebirds.

“I don’t think my players have been tired,” said Karanka. “We have a squad and we have had a lot of chances, so we could have scored six or seven goals. It’s not tiredness. The players who are playing are fine because I like to do a lot of substitutions. So I can’t understand that people might say they are tired.

“It has not been intensity problems either. When you are playing well you deserve to win the games, you are creating chances, but sometimes you don’t score. Confidence can gradually go down if that happens, but after the game on Saturday I hope we are going to be better. The confidence will be up again.

“Cardiff have shown how difficult it is in this league. We have a squad that we wanted at the beginning of the season so I am managing it in the way I think is best for everybody. I always choose the best 11 for each game, so because of this I am confident about the future.”

There is a buzz around the club ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup trip to Manchester City. It will also represent a challenge for Karanka to pit his wits against the Premier League champions, like he did against Liverpool in the Capital One Cup last September. The prospect of an appearance at the Etihad could be playing on the minds of Boro's young squad this week.

Karanka said: “I thought about the FA Cup game when I watched Manchester City on Sunday (losing to Arsenal). Today I am thinking about Tuesday then it will be about the FA Cup game again. My players are the same.

“To be honest, nobody has said anything about the Man City game around here. For me, that’s the best thing. All of them are not thinking too early about it. If you go in the training ground, dressing room, they’re talking about Cardiff or the last game.

“They know what my mentality is. For them it would be stupid to speak about the Man City game when we have a game on Tuesday. We have a big game on Tuesday. That’s the focus. It has to be.”

Karanka has not kept the same starting line-up all season so he is likely to tinker again tonight. He is keen for his strikers – Patrick Bamford, Kike and Jelle Vossen – to start scoring again like attacking midfielder Tomlin did on Saturday.

But the Spanish head coach is not worried. He said: “I am not concerned. I am positive because I prefer to think about where we are now in the table at a time when the strikers are not scoring as many goals.

“So I like to think more about where we could be by the end of the season if the strikers do score more goals. It is better for everybody when the strikers score goals, but if we are where we are now and they are not scoring then imagine ... I am sure they will soccer goals before the end of the season all of them have quality.”

Full-back Ryan Fredericks is still not fit enough to make an appearance for the first team, but he is closing in on a return to action after thigh trouble has prevented him from playing any of the last seven matches.

Middlesbrough: Konstantopoulos; Kalas, Ayala, Gibson, Friend; Leadbitter, Clayton; Adomah, Tomlin, Bamford; Vossen.

Cardiff: Moore; Malone, Morrison, Turner, Brayford; Noone, Whittingham, Gunnarsson, Adeyemi; Revell, Le Fondre.