Middlesbrough’s squad are short of confidence having endured what Chris Wilder has called a ‘sticky spell’ to open the season but he has been quick to defend the performances of wing-back Isaiah Jones and is adamant he can regain his confidence on the pitch.

The 23-year-old, who has largely been a success story since breaking into the first-team picture last season, has played his part in a Boro side that have struggled to get their season going with just two wins from their opening ten games. They sit in the Championship relegation zone heading into the international break.

With the vast majority of his playing squad not firing on all cylinders, Wilder was not prepared to throw an individual, including Jones, under the bus for their recent performances. “What am I going to say to him? Don’t be confident and play safe?” he said.

“I’ve been in the game long enough to know not to give him negative vibes. I don’t sit in the changing room and go ‘you’re crap, you’re crap, you’re crap, how crap are you? What are you doing? You should never be a professional footballer.’

“There is a little bit more to the job than that. There might be times where players might need digging out but the majority of the time, you want to make the players feel good. You want to give them belief and confidence because he has had a lot of good press.

“You’ve just got to keep going and it will happen. It will happen to centre forwards, it will happen to me where you think ‘where’s my next performance going to come from?’ I don’t think it’s as bad as that but it’s bits and pieces to his game where ne needs to get back to where he is.”

Jones’ increase in stock has been rapid within the Boro first-team. During last summer, previous manager Neil Warnock was preparing to send him out on loan to continue his development. However, injuries to members of the squad forced Warnock to use Jones on the opening day of the season. Since that game where he provided the assist for Marc Bola’s equalising goal against Fulham, he has rarely looked back going on to make 58 appearances in all competitions.

During games last season, Jones impressive performances meant he was being singled out by opposition teams as they paid close attention to their young starlet. The loan signing of left wing-back Ryan Giles has alleviated the pressure from Jones this season with Boro posing a threat on both flanks.

However, this may well be time his career he has had to endure a difficult spell in the first-team. But with Boro looking for the inspiration that will help them climb out of the Championship relegation zone following their goalless draw against Rotherham United at the weekend, Jones can be the catalyst behind that and it won’t take much for him to get back to his best.

Wilder continued: “With little bit of doubt and belief or a lack of confidence at times, then you doubt yourself in those produce but then out of nowhere, he’ll produce a cross and he’ll get himself feeling good about himself because he’s a talent.

“It happens to all of them. You look at Jonny Howson. He’s played 650 games and he has given the ball away three or four times there but what you need to do is keep going. As soon as you go hiding, then you are down to ten or nine, you get exposed and you get beat. We didn’t do that.

“It’s not the result we wanted but we got that clean sheet that we definitely wanted and definitely needed.”