JONATHAN WOODGATE has admitted his Middlesbrough players might have been showing signs of complacency in the last few weeks, but the Boro boss is confident they are now fully aware of the seriousness of the situation they find themselves in close to the Championship’s bottom three.

Boro slipped to within three points of the relegation zone as they crashed to a 1-0 defeat at Barnsley at the weekend, with the defeat at Oakwell coming just seven days after they lost to another of their relegation rivals, Luton Town.

Just two months ago, the Teessiders were recording back-to-back victories at West Brom and Preston that lifted them to 16th position in the table and appeared to have all but eradicated any threat of relegation.

A subsequent run of eight games without a victory has changed the picture entirely, and Woodgate is adamant his players are not sleepwalking their way into trouble with 12 more matches to play.

“Maybe we got a bit complacent, maybe we thought we were clear of relegation,” admitted the Boro boss, ahead of tomorrow night’s game with title challengers Leeds United at the Riverside. “I never thought that myself, I always thought that it would be a battle because I know what type of squad I’ve got.

“My team will keep on fighting. We are still in a position where we can get out of this, that’s without question at the minute.

“They know that. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that we are right in a battle and the players know that, but we need to roll our sleeves up quick and start getting results.

“Maybe other teams (had a different mindset) because they were in the relegation zone and we weren’t, so we maybe got a bit complacent. They were fighting for their lives - now we are fighting for our lives too.”

Boro will start as long-priced outsiders against a Leeds side that beat them 4-0 at Elland Road in November, but while that was a bad afternoon, Woodgate is taking solace from his side’s record against some of the other promotion contenders.

As well as winning at West Brom and Preston, Boro have also drawn with Fulham, Nottingham Forest and Bristol City, results that prove his players are capable of raising themselves for the big occasion.

“Leeds are an exceptional team, and they’ve proved that for most of the season, but I believe we can beat them,” said Woodgate. “I know some of our fans don’t think we can, but I think we can and my players think we can, so why can’t we?

“We’ve beaten West Brom and Preston and had good draws too. We’ve done okay against the bigger teams. Okay, against Leeds we got a whupping, but hopefully it will be different this time.”