SAMMY Ameobi is hoping he gets the opportunity to spend more time in a central attacking midfield role during the final six games of Middlesbrough's season.

Since moving to the Riverside on loan, Ameobi has spent most of his time on the flank, but Boro boss Tony Mowbray pushed him infield for Tuesday's goalless draw with Peterborough.

Ameobi might not have scored as Boro's winless run stretched to five matches, but the 20-year-old was the Teessiders' most threatening player by a distance as he played on the shoulder of lone striker Ishmael Miller.

Saturday's trip to second-placed Hull City is likely to be crucial to Boro's hopes of resurrecting their fading play-off challenge, and Ameobi is hoping he gets another chance to prove his worth in a central role.

"I really enjoyed it on Tuesday," said the Newcastle United loanee. "It's not a position I've played in a lot, but the more versatile I am, the better chance I have of becoming a footballer.

"It was a bit tougher in the second half because I had someone dropping in to follow me, but it was good. It's just unfortunate we weren't able to get the goals to kill the game in the first half.

"It's a position I'd really like to play in more regularly in the future. I think it could really suit my laid-back style of play. I really enjoyed it against Peterborough and it would be nice to get more opportunities there before the end of the season.

"There are some fantastic players at Newcastle that play in that role - people like (Hatem) Ben Arfa and (Moussa) Sissoko - and I'm sure I can learn lots of things from them moving forward."

For the time being, Ameobi's focus is trained on the final six games of the season, and the youngster insists his team-mates have not given up hope of forcing their way into the top six.

As has been the case for a number of weeks now, other results continued to go Boro's way on Tuesday, with Brighton's failure to beat Charlton meaning Mowbray's men are still just six points from the play-offs.

It is a far from unbridgeable gap, although it has surely got to the stage where another defeat could prove terminal to the Teessiders' pursuit of the teams above them.

"The belief is definitely still there," said Ameobi. "None of us have given up on this. We need six points to get there, and that's certainly not impossible. Hopefully, we can get ourselves even closer at the weekend.

"Things went in our favour, and the gap is still six points. We've still got a chance of getting there, and it's certainly not over yet. We're still going to keep fighting and pushing, and hopefully we'll get there."