Kim Hellberg makes his targets clear for Middlesbrough’s final two games of the season
Players of Middlesbrough celebrate their opening goal(Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Middlesbrough’s top-two hopes may now be slim, but Kim Hellberg is still targeting two wins from the last two games to at least make it interesting.
Boro finally ended a winless run on Wednesday evening. Morgan Whittaker’s goal on his return from injury sealed the 1-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday.
The three points have all but guaranteed Boro a top-six finish, and therefore play-off place, because their goal difference is significantly better than both Hull City’s and Wrexham’s below them.
While that eases pressure on Boro, boss Hellberg is still not ruling out a dramatic late turnaround in the race for second. Regardless, wanting to take momentum into the play-offs after the recent poor run of results, the Boro boss is targeting two wins from two against Watford and Wrexham.
Hellberg said: “We need to win these last two games to have a chance to get second. You also need to get two wins to go into the play-offs in the best possible feeling. Whichever it is, it’s always about trying to win games.
“That’s why it was so important to win today. It’s just keep going at Watford, try to win that game, try to build momentum, that is very, very important. I think it’s strong to win tonight after the good performance on Sunday, and that disappointment of not getting the result we should have had.
“To then go into this game and win it, it’s strong. To get to the play-offs is a massive thing. You always want to be first or second, but to get to the play-offs means that you’ve got a 25 percent chance of ending up in the Premier League, and that opportunity doesn’t come often.
“It’s a massive thing for the club, and for me, and for the players to already know that we are at least in that. There’s still possibilities. We will go into the Watford game here on Saturday to win and try to take it to the last day of the season, where you know that anything can happen.
“So my main focus is now to try to win against Watford to have two thoughts at the same time: build momentum at home, but also try to take it to the last day of the season, and anything can happen.”
Boro will be rank outsiders to finish second now. Millwall and Ipswich require just four more points from their remaining games to make it mathematically impossible for Boro. Given their superior goal difference, three points from their three remaining games would probably be enough to ensure Boro can’t finish higher than Ipswich.
Nevertheless, Hellberg feels if Boro can follow up their Sheffield Wednesday win with another on Saturday against Watford, they at least put pressure on their rivals to need results.
“It’s always pressure for all the teams that are up there,” he said. “There are good sides, and it will be exciting to see what happens this next week and how everyone copes with everything.
“It is also a mental game and it’s not easy just to get those wins in football when you need to do it. So it will be interesting to see the next week and what happens until the last day of the season.”
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