Boro manager rallies side ahead of difficult Leeds United tie

Middlesbrough manager Jonathan Woodgate has rallied his players ahead of the crucial home game against promotion chasing Leeds United on Wednesday.

Boro are currently on a poor run of form with the club without a win since the New Year day victory at Preston North End.

During this period Boro have taken four points from a possible 24 and slid back into the relegation mix.

Woodgate has been under pressure and he admitted in his pre match conference that his players got complacent due to their form over the festive period.

Boro were impressive in December with Woodgate winning the manager of the month award after four wins in a row.

However, Woodgate believes that they got complacent in recent games against teams below them.

“Maybe because they were in the relegation zone and we weren’t, so we maybe got a bit complacent,” he said.

Woodgate backs his side to bounce back against illustrious opponents like Leeds United.

“We’ve been in a situation like this before where we’ve had to win games.”

“We went to West Brom, who are chasing promotion, and won, and again, Preston.”

“We’ll be going out to win the game,” he said.

• Boro withdraw interest in free agent 30 goal striker
• Boro enter the race for forward with Nottingham Forest and Derby County already linked

Boro will have to be at their best to get a result against Marcelo Bielsa’s side who have picked up form in recent matches.