ADAM FORSHAW has warned his Middlesbrough team-mates they will have to win today’s physical battle with Bolton Wanderers before they can rely on their superior technique propelling them to victory at the Macron Stadium.

Boro head into their final five matches of the season knowing that four victories will guarantee promotion, and most observers will already have marked down today’s game as one of those four wins.

Bolton’s relegation was confirmed last weekend, and after winning just four of their 41 league games, the Trotters are long-priced outsiders for this afternoon’s contest even though they benefit from home advantage.

Jimmy Phillips’ side have lost nine of their last 11 matches – the other two games were draws – but while their season has imploded alarmingly, Forshaw expects them to prove dangerous opponents unless Boro get the basics right and ensure their attitude is correct.

“To be a successful team in the Championship, you have to have a steely side to your game,” said the midfielder, who scored Boro’s stoppage-time winner as they edged out Reading on Tuesday night. “Preston came here last Saturday and showed they’re perfectly capable of posing their own problems.

“We’ve got to match teams like that at times, and then at other times when we have to play football, we have to be able to do that as well. If you want to be successful in this league, then you have to play in different ways at times. That’s just how it is.”

With matches against Burnley and Brighton still to come in the final four games of the campaign, there will be an inevitable temptation for Boro’s players to look beyond today’s match and focus on the tougher tests that lie in wait.

Forshaw insists that would be a huge mistake, even though Bolton have conceded at least three goals in three of their last four outings.

Boro have slipped up against Rotherham and Charlton in the last six weeks – both sides in the bottom four positions – and while their record against the leading sides in the division has been hugely impressive this season, they have struggled to see off some of the supposed lesser lights.

“We’re not looking at the Burnley and Brighton games yet,” said Forshaw. “We have to recover, rest and get ourselves ready for Bolton. Bolton is just as big as any game we’ve played this season, if not bigger because it’s the next one. That is our only focus now.

“Bolton is a big game in its own right for us. Obviously they haven’t had the best season, but every game is tricky in this league and we need to approach it right. We’re just literally looking forward to that one game, and then to the next.”