AT its most basic, football is an extremely simple game. You keep the ball out at one end and put it into the opposition’s net at the other. If you get both elements right, you will win more games that you lose.

Middlesbrough have mastered half of the equation. Defensively, Tony Pulis’ side have been extremely effective all season, keeping 16 Championship clean sheets and conceding fewer goals in their opening 36 matches than any other side in the division. While the Teessiders have conceded 28 goals, league leaders Norwich City have let in 47. If Boro fail to win promotion, it will not be because of any deficiencies at the back.

Turn to the opposite end of the pitch, however, and the statistics tell a completely different story. Boro’s tally of 40 goals from their 36 league games makes them the sixth-lowest scorers in the division. They have scored the same number of goals as Reading, who are only outside the relegation zone on goal difference.

Wednesday’s home defeat to Preston provided another stark illustration of their failings, with a host of chances going begging before Daniel Ayala’s sending off changed the complexion of the game. Britt Assombalonga spurned a couple of extremely inviting chances, John Obi Mikel hit the post, Aden Flint and Ayala both failed to convert decent opportunities from set-pieces and Jonny Howson somehow failed to find the target when it looked harder to miss than score.

Frustrating? Undoubtedly. But hardy out of keeping with what had gone before. All season long, chances have gone begging, and while it is possible to question some of Pulis’ decision-making, it is hard not to sympathise when the Boro boss bemoans his players’ lack of composure in front of goal.

“We should be scoring more goals,” said Pulis, ahead of this afternoon’s trip to Aston Villa. “We seem to say that every week though. That’s been our Achilles heel, and there’s no hiding away from that fact. We’ve played in lots of games this year where we’ve created a lot of opportunities – we just haven’t had that killer touch.

“It’s all over the pitch. We just have to be more clinical. Right up to the final third, I think we’ve been as good as anybody in the league this year. Defensively, we’ve obviously been exceptional, but we’ve created lots of chances and opportunities, and the midfield players have done well with that. Again on Wednesday night, (Lewis) Wing, (Mo) Besic and Mikel were very, very good. It’s just (converting) those chances, but that’s the most important part of it.

“It just hasn’t gone for us in front of goal. It’s no use bemoaning it or getting down on it. It’s just the way it’s been all over the pitch, for most of the season. We’ve been as good, and a lot of times better, than most teams.”

The key question now is how to change things in the remaining ten games. Having stuck with Assombalonga and Ashley Fletcher for the last five games, Pulis has hinted he could change his attacking line-up at Villa Park. That could well mean a recall for Jordan Hugill, although the West Ham loanee’s record of six goals from 30 league appearances hardly inspires confidence.

A collective change of mindset is what Boro really need, particularly when it comes to players keeping their head in the opposition’s 18-yard box. This is not a Middlesbrough squad blessed with an abundance of natural goalscorers, but there is plenty of attacking and midfield experience, and the goals for tally should be much better than it is.

“They’ve just got to keep believing,” said Pulis. “They need to keep doing what they’re doing, and that is practising in training, and then you just hope that you get those breaks.

“You can’t fault the players for their effort or the way they’ve played. They played exceptionally well in the week, against a team that were coming here on a nine-game unbeaten run.

“You speak to them (Preston) afterwards, and as the manager said, they should have walked in with masks on because they robbed the bank. That’s all well and good, but the problem is that we can’t and shouldn’t allow that to happen. Irrespective of the sending off, we should have been three or four up, but we weren’t.”

Having taken on one of the Championship’s in-form teams in Preston, Boro now find themselves going head-to-head with another side on an excellent run in Aston Villa.

Dean Smith’s side have taken maximum points from their last three matches, and will move to within a point of Boro if they win this afternoon. They also have fond memories of taking on the Teessiders, having beaten Boro in last season’s play-off semi-finals and claimed a resounding 3-0 win at the Riverside in December.

“Villa’s going to be a tough game,” said Pulis. “They’re on a great run at the moment, and they’ve got their top players back fit. They’ve got an exceptional squad when everyone is fit.

“They’ve missed (Jack) Grealish – he’s an exceptional player at this level, he’d be a top player in the Premier League. We know how good Villa are – we’ve got to be really well set up, and make sure we play as well as we can.”