NEIL WARNOCK is delighted his Middlesbrough side have got their season back on track with two victories in the space of five days.

Having seen off Peterborough at the Riverside on Saturday, Boro claimed back-to-back victories for the first time all season as goals from Andraz Sporar and Matt Crooks secured a deserved 2-0 victory over Barnsley last night.

The Teessiders spurned a number of chances to add to their goals tally, most notably when Duncan Watmore shot over an empty net, but the misses did not prove costly as they climbed back into the Championship’s top ten.

There was a mood of doom and gloom when they lost 2-0 at Hull prior to the international break, and with a game at crisis club Cardiff City to come at the weekend, sights are being trained firmly up the table.

“This is what I’m in it for, to see things like this,” said Warnock, after he celebrated with the fans in the South Stand after the final whistle. “You don’t want it to just fade away, like it looked it was going to do, because we’re better than that.

“We are short of players, but all credit to the lads. They’ve really knuckled down. Training is a joy to be involved with, and I’ve been pleased with the way we’ve played since the injuries occurred.”

Watmore’s second-half miss was a staggering one, but Warnock feels it would be unfair if it detracted from the forward’s whole-hearted all-round display.

“He did slip in fairness, but I said to him when he slipped, he should have gone on his knee and headed it in,” he said.

“Listen, he’s worked his socks off tonight – both the strikers have, I’ve got nothing but praise for them.

"The main thing is we won the game, so that doesn’t make his miss as bad as it would have been.”

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