AITOR KARANKA is confident that Middlesbrough have learned valuable lessons in their surge for an automatic promotion charge but has warned his players that nothing has been achieved just yet.

Boro head in to the penultimate weekend of the season sitting just outside the top two because of an inferior goal difference.

Even if Middlesbrough can finish with a flourish by winning at Fulham on Saturday and then again when Brighton visit the Riverside a week later, they could still be relying on what happens above them.

Bournemouth have Bolton at home and then travel to Charlton while current leaders Watford are at Brighton this weekend before heading for Sheffield Wednesday on May 2, so Middlesbrough’s supporters are hoping for more twists and turns in their favour.

But after watching his Middlesbrough players return to form with three straight wins after suffering the blows of a defeat to both Watford and the Cherries in two of the three games beforehand, Karanka is satisfied with the response and attitude of his players again.

“We have to remember what has happened in the last three games,” said the Middlesbrough head coach. “We have learned from previous games, losing a few away games, and it showed we learned last week with the games we won.

“We still don’t have anything to lose because we are trying to achieve the top of the table, we are not there. With these games to go, you never know what will happen in the Championship.

“I can’t say what will happen, I expected teams to drop points before the Watford game but nobody else did.

“It’s tough and everybody knows how tough this league is. We knew that if we won at Norwich it would not guarantee anything.

“We have to fight until the end because it is a race between four teams, what we have done so far is clearly not enough. We have to keep going.”

Despite looking to climb above the top two at this stage of the season, Middlesbrough showed what they were capable of at Norwich last Friday night when they dug deep to preserve a 1-0 lead when the Canaries pressed for an equaliser.

Rather than feel the pressure, though, Karanka is relishing it and he senses his players are too.

He said: “I prefer to think about my team and I have been very happy with the last few performances. We have to do our job. We lost against Bournemouth and we lost at Watford so we lost our opportunity, we have to do our best to make sure we don’t lose our opportunity now.

“At the start of the season I would not have thought we would be where we are. When I was a player at Real Madrid, an assistant with Jose (Mourinho), there was excitement all of the time but this is different because I am a manager.

“I am excited. It was more difficult last season when we lost at Millwall and I had just taken over, sitting just above the relegation zone, the pressure was bigger. This time it is much better because the players deserve to be where they are. We just have to keep going.”

Karanka has made his regular calls to close friend Mourinho during the business end of the season and he hopes the conversations have helped.

“Jose knows how difficult it is in every single game. Two weeks ago he said that winning matches 1-0 at this stage of the season is better than winning 10-0 in September,” said the Spaniard. “Every single point is important, every single set piece is important and the most important thing is that the players know that.

“Jose has been a manager 14 years. This is the first time I am living this situation as a manager. The main thing for me is that the players share my confidence. We have to go in to these games believing we can win but not expecting it. We have to be careful.”

Karanka is being kept informed about the fitness of attacking duo Patrick Bamford and Jelle Vossen ahead of the trip to Craven Cottage.

Bamford, who was crowned Championship player of the year at the Football League awards, took a knock on the ankle at Norwich but has made good progress. Vossen, however, is taking longer to recover from his own ankle problem after he fell awkwardly.

Middlesbrough are desperate to secure the points against Fulham that will set up an intriguing final day’s football at the Riverside a week later. A further, albeit small, allocation of tickets went on sale yesterday and it is expected that there will be a full house when Brighton travel to the North-East.