KIM HELLBERG admits his Middlesbrough players’ confidence levels have taken a battering from the winless run that has seriously damaged hopes of automatic promotion.
Saturday’s home defeat to Portsmouth means Boro have now failed to win any of their last six matches, a run that has seen them pick up just three points from a possible 18.
From looking strong favourites to finish alongside title favourites Coventry City in the top two, the Teessiders now find themselves in a position where their promotion fate is no longer in their own hands. They are fourth in table, three points adrift of second-placed Ipswich Town, who will extend that advantage to six if they win at Portsmouth this evening.
Boro head to Ipswich on Sunday lunchtime knowing a win is almost certainly essential if they are to retain any hopes of finishing in the top two, but Hellberg admits his side will be heading to Portman Road in a fragile state of mind.
“I think you can feel it on everyone,” said the Boro boss, whose side will complete the season with games against Sheffield Wednesday, Watford and Wrexham after taking on Ipswich. “It's not a confident place to be at the moment in terms of when things are going wrong.
“I can understand that. We just have to get out of it. Of course, it hurts us with Morgan [Whittaker] and Hayden [Hackney], our two best point scorers or takers through the season, being out. That doesn't help either. But we have to fight through it.”
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The last six games have featured matches when Boro have performed well, only to finish without a win. They dominated against Bristol City, creating a succession of good opportunities before being pegged back in stoppage time, and were superb in the first half against Millwall before conceding two goals after the break.
Saturday’s defeat to Portsmouth was different, with even Hellberg conceding his side were well below the required standard as they lost to a team battling against the drop.
There was an edginess at the Riverside that was apparent both on and off the field, with Boro’s players seemingly unable to shake off the fear factor that Hellberg sensed creeping into their game.
The Boro boss will oversee plenty of tactical work ahead of Sunday’s trip to Suffolk, but his main task this week will be to attempt to rebuild the confidence and morale of a group that have seen much of their good work from the first seven months of the season undone in the last four weeks.
“For the moment, it’s a struggle,” admitted Hellberg. “That's just to be honest with it. Everyone can see it, so it's no hiding from that. We have to dig ourselves out in terms of that hole and find a way.
“That was a disappointment from the last game [against Portsmouth]. From the games before here, I think was totally different in terms of energy.”
Having sensed a different mood in the first half of Saturday’s defeat, Hellberg was unable to turn things around despite making a number of changes in the second half.
Even so, Boro looked to be heading for a point until Connor Chaplin deflected the ball past Sol Brynn deep into stoppage time to deprive Hellberg’s side of even a draw.
“You can be honest sometimes when the performance is good enough and say that it was unlucky you didn’t win,” said Hellberg. “But that was the really disappointing thing.
“We should not lose the game again. With the way the game looks, you still win this game if you're confident. But we don't. So then, you should not, you cannot, lose it.”
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