SHEFFIELD United striker Rob Hulse has emerged as Middlesbrough's number one target ahead of the opening of the transfer window on Tuesday.

Boro boss Gareth Southgate is desperate to address a shortage of attacking options that has resulted in a tally of 17 goals in 19 matches, the second worst record in the Premier League.

With chairman Steve Gibson reluctant to fund a multi-million pound spending spree following previous failed gambles in the January window, Southgate has been instructed to target loan moves or players who will be willing to move to the Riverside on a short-term deal.

And after tentative inquiries about Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe were rebuffed last week, the manager has turned his attention to Hulse in an attempt to provide a muscular alternative to the injured Mido.

Hulse was one of last season's surprise success stories, scoring eight goals in 29 appearances as Sheffield United tumbled out of the top-flight.

His season ended prematurely when he broke his left leg in two places at Stamford Bridge in March, but he confirmed his return to full fitness when he played in both of the Blades' festive fixtures against Cardiff and Blackpool.

Former Boro boss Bryan Robson is determined to hold on to leading scorer James Beattie next month, but that determination could force him to adopt a more flexible approach when it comes to Hulse.

The 28-year-old has hardly figured in the first half of Sheffield United's season, and sources in Yorkshire suggest Robson could be persuaded to sanction his departure if it enables him to keep Beattie at Bramall Lane.

Robson's predecessor, Neil Warnock, paid £2.2m to sign Hulse from Leeds in July 2006, but Boro will be hoping to take him to the Riverside for around half that price if a loan agreement cannot be reached.

Gibson has intimated that money will be available next month if the right opportunity presents itself, but the chairman is determined to avoid the kind of January panic buy that has proved problematic in the past.

Five years ago, Boro bought Michael Ricketts and Malcolm Christie on January transfer deadline day for a combined fee of £6.5m. Neither player proved a success.

The same could be said of Dong-Gook Lee, last season's January signing, and while Southgate has admitted that he has effectively "lost three strikers" since the end of last season, he will not be handed a blank cheque book next month, despite his side's problems at the wrong end of the Premier League.

Those problems have been exacerbated by a dreadful start to the Christmas programme that has seen Middlesbrough suffer back-to-back defeats to West Ham and Birmingham.

Just like tonnes of leftover turkey and repeats of The Great Escape, a run of poor results has become something of a festive tradition on Teesside.

Last season, Boro picked up just one point from their Christmas matches against Everton and Blackburn, two years ago they claimed a point from games against Blackburn and Manchester City and, the season before that, they also lost to Birmingham on Boxing Day.

This week's winless run has taken things to a new low, and skipper George Boateng admits his team-mates have suffered a particularly joyless Christmas period.

"Christmas hasn't been very good to us in the past, but I was very hopeful about Christmas this year," said the Dutchman. "When I looked at the fixtures earlier this month - West Ham at home and Birmingham away - I was hopeful that we would get at least four points.

"We should have won at least one of those games, and the fact that we haven't has made it a really bad Christmas for us. "The only good thing is that we have a chance to put things right straightaway. We go to Portsmouth on Saturday and we know they are beatable.

Portsmouth are strong at home, but they recently lost to Tottenham and there's no reason why we can't beat them as well."

Boateng will be forced to sit out tomorrow's trip to Fratton Park after picking up his fifth booking of the season in last Saturday's 2-1 defeat to West Ham.

But the midfielder has revealed that a furious Southgate was stressing the importance of the game in the wake of Wednesday's defeat at St Andrew's.

Southgate is understood to have been in a particularly angry mood after Boro shipped three goals for the fifth time this season and a number of home truths were delivered before his players were allowed to leave the dressing room. "The manager told us we had to improve when we played Portsmouth," said Boateng. "He told us to look at the Birmingham team sheet after the game. He said: I am as disappointed as you are - that is the team that beat you, so you must feel very disappointed in yourselves'.

"He was right because, overall, we did not do enough to win the game, and that was the most frustrating thing. When we are not on the top of our game, we still have to find a way of getting something out of the match.

"It's like the game against West Ham. Neither side played particularly well, but they still came up with a way of winning it. We seem to be giving soft goals away without getting any at the other end."