We Are Middlesbrough

Head coach Kim Hellberg says Middlesbrough were "brilliant" in their 4-0 thumping of Queens Park Rangers.

Boro recorded a second away win in seven days to stay second and open up a four-point gap over Millwall in third.

Goals from David Strelec, Alan Browne, Hayden Hackney and a Tommy Conway penalty made it another excellent away day in west London, leaving Hellberg delighted.

"Very happy with everything," he told BBC Radio Tees.

"I think the performance overall was brilliant, the way we press, the way we play, combining some beautiful goals, some fighting goals, so it was a good, good performance."

Ipswich Town's draw on Saturday meant that victory over QPR allowed Boro to regain total control of their promotion destiny and Hellberg was impressed with how his players responded.

"We talked about being brave in that performance and finding the solutions that we work on," he added.

"We talk about performance - that is the key thing. Do the things we talk about, do the things we practice. That's what we can develop from the game every time."

With this game being played on Sunday (16:30 GMT), Middlesbrough could find themselves outside the Championship's automatic promotion places if Ipswich beat Leicester on Saturday.

QPR's only two wins in their past six league games have come against leaders Coventry and fifth-placed Hull City.

• QPR have lost their past four league games against Middlesbrough but have never lost five in a row against Boro.

• Middlesbrough have won on their past two league visits, having won just three of their first 26 visits beforehand between 1966 and 2022.

• Since Christmas, only Sheffield Wednesday (0), West Brom (1) and Leicester (2) have won fewer Championship matches than QPR (3), who have lost their past two by an aggregate score of 7-0.

• Middlesbrough have won nine away league games this season and are looking to reach double figures in a season for the ninth time – five of the previous eight have come this century (2011-12, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2018-19, 2023-24).

• Middlesbrough defender Matt Targett scored twice in the first half of their 3-1 win over Birmingham on Monday, equalling his goals tally in his previous 74 league games combined.

Image source, Getty Images

Swansea City's Easter Monday Championship match against promotion-chasing Middlesbrough has been given a new kick-off time after being chosen for live coverage by Sky Sports.

The match had originally been scheduled to start at 15:00 GMT on 6 April at the Swansea.com Stadium but will now move to the later time of 17:30.

Boro won the reverse fixture 1-0 in August with Dael Fry scoring the goal.

Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg says his side's work off the ball was instrumental in claiming a crucial victory at Birmingham City in their quest for automatic promotion.

Two goals from Matt Targett and one for David Strelec helped Boro win for the first time in four games and inflict only a second home league loss on Blues in 42 matches.

They are back within five points of leaders Coventry City and managed their success in the west Midlands by scoring with all three of their efforts on target and under 40% possession.

"You come to this place - one loss in two years - they've been absolutely brilliant and you can see that, a very good squad, a lot of good players," Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees.

"For most of the game, we were very, very good, especially in the first half. It was well deserved.

"Our pressing today was outstanding. How hard we worked, how many balls we won high, how we frustrated them. The high pressing and energy today was the key and it's good to see we can win like that, absolutely brilliant."

Kim Hellberg said Middlesbrough are working hard to find their scoring touch but he retains "all the confidence in the world" that it will return.

Boro have slipped five points behind Championship leaders Coventry City following defeat at the Sky Blues and frustrating back-to-back home draws against Oxford United and Leicester City.

Hellberg's side dominated the latter two games and registered a total of 41 shots in them, but only 11 were on target with one goal to show for them, against the Foxes on Tuesday night.

"We are trying to react to it and work from it - we keep moving forward," he told BBC Radio Tees.

"I think we have scored the third most goals in the league since I arrived. We will continue to work on scoring more goals and finding solutions.

"We had four games in a row [from 20 December to 1 January] when we didn't score for seven hours and we tried to work from it to become better, and we did, [scoring 13 over the next four matches].

"Now we're doing the same thing, we don't score enough. And we're still creating a lot of opportunities, but we haven't been efficient enough in those situations."

Hellberg refuted the suggestion his players were lacking energy against Leicester.

"There are a lot of players who have played almost every minute," he said. "We have a thin squad, a lot of players coming back from injury.

"I don't think the energy has been a problem but you can always have more energy. [The problem is] we haven't been quite good enough in situations where we could and should score goals."

Despite the 'blip,' going into the weekend fixtures, with Hellberg's side headed to Birmingham on Monday (20:00 GMT), Boro remain four points clear of third-placed Millwall, though Ipswich Town, six points back in fourth, do have two games in hand.

"I have all the confidence in the world," he said. "We have one loss in nine games, we draw two games [but] when you look at them we created a lot of opportunities.

"We have to keep working, keep finding ways to score and improve. That's what we're trying to do."