BRITT ASSOMBALONGA was always confident his goalscoring form would return – now the Middlesbrough striker wants to fire his side up the Championship table.

Prior to Saturday’s trip to QPR, Assombalonga’s only goal in his previous nine matches had been a somewhat fortuitous effort against Preston, and his error-strewn performance in the previous weekend’s defeat at Derby County had resulted in a storm of criticism.

Jonathan Woodgate never lost faith though, and the Boro head coach’s trust in the 26-year-old was dramatically repaid at Loftus Road as Assombalonga scored a goal in each half to help his side claim a valuable point.

Assombalonga’s brace means he is now on six goals for the season – putting him in the top ten strikers in the division – and while he accepts he had been on something of a goal drought, he always knew his fortunes would turn.

“This has happened before,” said Assombalonga, who might also have won a first-half penalty when he appeared to have been fouled by Lee Wallace. “It’s not a one-off thing, it happens for every striker.

“You just have to keep going. Eventually it’s going to click, and then you’ll go on a run of scoring again and everyone will forget about the time when you had a chance and missed. I’ve got a good record, and that’s why you can’t dwell on the little droughts. You’ll keep having those droughts through your career, but you know that the storm is going to pass someday.”

Assombalonga’s efforts ensured Boro’s run of four games without a goal came to an end, although the result was not sufficient to lift the Teessiders out of the bottom three.

Woodgate’s side are a point adrift of safety heading into the international break, but their much-improved performance has at least raised morale ahead of what could well be crucial back-to-back home games against Hull City and Barnsley.

Having watched their first-half advantage become a half-time deficit, it would have been easy for Boro’s players to have thrown in the towel. Instead, they redoubled their efforts in the second half and claimed a deserved equaliser when Assombalonga pounced on Nakhi Wells’ errant back-pass.

“You look at the table and we’re down there, there’s no hiding from that,” said the goalscorer. “But the only way we can improve things is by working as hard as we can. We need to keep pushing, take it step by step, and focus on the next two games.”