GIBSON VOWS: BORO WILL KEEP FIGHTING
CENTRE-BACK DETERMINED TO KEEP MIDDLESBROUGH BATTLING ALL THE WAY IN SCRAP
Defender Ben Gibson insists that Middlesbrough will quickly put their midweek disappointment behind them, going into tomorrow’s crucial Premier League home clash with Burnley.
Boro slipped seven points adrift of safety when succumbing to a 4-2 defeat at relegation rivals Hull City on Wednesday night.
Now, with just eight games to save themselves from an instant return to the Championship, homegrown star Gibson says Boro will keep battling.
“It’s about the team and we won’t stop fighting,” said the 24-year-old.
“There’s eight games and 24 points still to fight for.
“It was a big blow at Hull, but we have to get on with it quickly. It’s a massive game against Burnley now.
“We won’t stop believing and won’t stop fighting.”
Boro are still chasing a first win since December 17. They scored twice at Hull – the first time they have scored more than once in the league since then – after interim boss Steve Agnew urged his shot-shy side to take the game to their opponents at the KCOM Stadium.
Their bold approach was undone by some uncharacteristically poor defending.
Gibson told mfc.co.uk: “We’re used to being solid, and we weren’t.
“I’ll hold my hands up, I’ve got to do better for some of the goals.
“We tried to be more expansive and creative up the pitch, and changed the shape.
“But, ultimately, we didn’t do our jobs defensively and without the ball, and we have to resolve that quickly.
“We scored just before half-time, and maybe the whistle came at a bad time for us – we were on top and had them penned in.
“But we didn’t do enough second half, and we conceded a soft goal from our point of view. It was far from good enough from all of us, myself included.”
Agnew will try to continue Burnley’s poor away record – still no wins on the road this season – at the Riverside (3pm kick-off ).
Reflecting on the Hull defeat, Agnew admitted: “We didn’t get the balance right.
“We have to give it a go at this stage of the season and the position we’re in, and we did that.
“But the disappointment is that we left it far too open. The risk has to be calculated and we have to learn.”
Burnley midfielder Steven Defour faces a fitness test ahead of kick-off. The Belgian suffered a knock in Tuesday’s vital victory over Stoke, in his first start in more than two months after a hamstring injury.
Manager Sean Dyche said: “I took him off early in the second half because he got a knock just above his knee on his thigh.
“We are having that checked out. We don’t think it is too serious, but he hasn’t managed to train.”
The Clarets’ victory over Stoke ended a run of seven league games without a win and lifted them to 35 points, inching closer to survival.
Dyche said: “We know it’s not a done deal. We know we have got more work to do but we are in good shape.
“We had a good result on Tuesday, but that gets parked very quickly and we move on to the next one, which is Middlesbrough.”