MIDDLESBROUGH'S Premiership rescue job will not be complete, even if they beat Birmingham City in tomorrow's must-win game, Aiyegbeni Yakubu has declared.

The striker has 18 goals to his name so far this season and is well on his way to becoming the first Middlesbrough player to break the 20 league goals mark for more than half a century, having notched 13 in the Premiership and a further five in cup competitions.

Not since Alec McRae scored 21 in 1950-51 has anyone reached the hallowed benchmark.

But if Yakubu needed any more incentive to write his name into Boro folklore the significance of tomorrow's game at the Riverside should provide that.

Birmingham, who Boro beat 3-0 at St Andrews in August, are currently eight points adrift of Steve McClaren's men towards the foot of the table and a win at the weekend would further ease the pressure on the Teessiders, who have enjoyed a revival in fortunes of late.

"Every game we play now is very important to us. We don't want to lose any games, we want to keep winning," Yakubu said.

"If we beat Birmingham we still have a long way to go. We have to think about it one game at a time."

Boro have won six of their last eight games in the Premiership, FA and UEFA Cups after experiencing a dramatic slump. For Yakubu, the reason for the about turn is straightforward.

"Two months ago we had our key players out injured and it was difficult. We kept doing our job but it wasn't going well," he said.

There seemed little light at the end of the tunnel, but that changed with a visit to the Stadium of Light at the end of January.

Boro won 3-0 and it marked a watershed moment, according to the Nigerian.

"The position we were in at the time was bad and we said 'we have to wake up and start doing our jobs'," he said.

Yakubu is more than happy with his personal form, but although his manager has touted him as potentially one of the best players in the world, he is determined to keep his feet on the ground.

"I don't want to get carried away," he said. "I need to carry on working in training and do the right things in games and hopefully everything will go well."

McClaren has been rotating his frontmen this season and so, despite his goal tally, Yakubu is not entirely certain that he will be in the starting line-up for tomorrow's game.

Whatever decision is made, he says he understands it will have been taken in the best interests of the team.

"He might want to rest me tomorrow and give Jimmy (Floyd Hasselbaink), Massimo (Maccarone) or (Mark) Viduka a chance to play," he said.

"There is nothing I can do other than be ready whenever I am called and give it my best. There are a lot of games and you can never play them all."

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