Kim Hellberg demands more goals to keep Middlesbrough promotion push alive

Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg admits his side need to work harder in front of goal after being held to a 0-0 draw at relegation-threatened Blackburn.

The visitors came into the game knowing there was a possibility to turn the screw in the race for second place, and the early signs were positive as his side bossed a first half which saw Aidan Morris lash into the side netting and David Strelec brilliantly denied.

But they could not maintain the momentum in the second half and only had one more shot on target to remain second, two points clear of Ipswich and with just two wins in their last eight matches.

Hellberg was pleased with the overall performance but knows his team need to score more to achieve promotion.

He said: “I think the first half is one of our best halves in creating opportunities because often it’s tricky because everyone is fresh and it’s difficult to break them down. We did it very good today.

“Everyone can see we should, of course, be ahead in the first half. It’s a top performance away from home in this league in the first half. That’s disappointing.

“Then the fans want us to score goals and then it gets, in the second half, frustrating at not doing it and we try to do different things.

“It’s something you need to handle in a better way because I think, partially in the second half, you try to take care of those things and it could be a problem for us, because the second half is not as good after the first 20 minutes and that’s something I need to handle and work with.

“If we don’t score more, we’re not going to win so many of those last seven games, so that’s something we need to work on.”

It could be a crucial point for Rovers, who ended the week unbeaten after two games against promotion-chasing sides.

Their only chance came when Ryoya Morishita forced a low save in the first half but they were well worth their point and boss Michael O’Neill lavished praise on the supporters and “magnificent” players.

He said: “Very proud of the effort of the players. It was a real club effort today.

“I think the supporters were fabulous today when we needed them, especially in the second half. We knew we’d have to go long periods without the ball today. It’s always harder when you’re doing that at home but the fans reacted in the right way to that.

“I thought we had our moments. We could have been better a little bit with the ball, we know that. But in terms of desire to make sure we weren’t beaten and get over the line and take something from the game against one of the top two teams in the league and you can see why they’re in the position they are.

“I thought we limited it. First half, we needed the goalkeeper to make a couple of good saves which you expect. I thought we could possibly have done better on transition ourselves we know that. But overall, the effort of the players was magnificent.”