MIDDLESBROUGH midfielder Julio Arca is hoping Saturday’s goalless draw with Newcastle marks a new beginning in a personally disappointing campaign.

Arca made only his second start of the season as the Tees-Tyne derby honours were shared at the weekend, following an injury-hit three months in which he has struggled to regain full fitness.

Having undergone ankle surgery in the summer, the Argentinian was sidelined until late October, and when he eventually returned to full training, his route to the first team was blocked by Didier Digard and Gary O’Neil.

A succession of substitute appearances ensued, but with O’Neil now nursing a hamstring injury of his own, Arca is hoping Saturday’s central midfield outing will kick-start his season.

“I have tried to be as positive as I can,” said the South American, who just about shaded a tight midfield battle with his opposite number, Nicky Butt, at the weekend.

“But as far as I am concerned, my season starts here. It feels like a bit of a fresh start for me.

“When you come back from an injury, it is never easy when you are asked to play for ten or 15 minutes.

“You struggle to get back into the swing of things. People expect good things from you, but sometimes you can’t produce them because you’re not in that groove. You feel like the pace is miles away from what you’re used to.

“It’s difficult when you’re not playing from the beginning, so hopefully this is the start of a run in the team for me. I need to play more games.

Obviously, that’s not my decision, so all I can do is make it hard for the manager to leave me out.”

Arca was unable to inspire Middlesbrough to a victory over the Magpies, despite the Teessiders carving out the majority of the chances in a keenly-contested encounter.

Afonso Alves wasted at least three good openings, while full-back Justin Hoyte produced an instinctive sidefooted effort that Shay Given turned around the post.

Boro have now failed to score in four of their 15 league games this season, and Arca admits they will have to improve their conversion rate if they are to challenge for a European spot.

“If you have five or six chances, you have to start making the most of them,” he said. “Afonso came close a couple of times, and Justin also had a good opportunity, and you have to take those chances if you want to win games.

“The positive, though, is that we created those chances and on another day they will go in and we will win. The overall performance helped bring some of the confidence back after last week’s defeat to Bolton, and hopefully this will be the start of another run of decent results.”

Middlesbrough were on a five-game unbeaten run before Bolton recorded a 3-1 victory at the Riverside, and while Saturday’s draw saw the Teessiders slip back into the bottom half of the table, Arca insists that progress has been made since the end of last season.

“The performances have been pretty positive,” he said.

“Certainly better than last year.

“Our away displays have been much improved and we are attacking more and playing more football.

“Chelsea are the only team to have really outplayed us, so we are confident we can finish in the top ten.

“We have not done that in the last two years, so that has to be our first aim.

“It is achievable. We have been playing well, and there have only been a couple of games when we have let ourselves down.”