Middlesbrough

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Middlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg admitted the Teessiders were not good enough after they suffered a late, shock defeat to Portsmouth.

Conor Chaplin scored in the 97th minute with Portsmouth's only shot on target to stretch Middlesbrough's winless run to six games.

Ipswich have marched clear in the race for the second automatic promotion place and Hellberg admits they were poor.

"We were not good enough," he told BBC Radio Tees. "We lacked energy, quality and structure.

"That is different from other games. Sometimes we played well without the result. Today we were not good enough except defensively. It makes you flat and disappointed.

"We didn't have our best game. We played three in a week, some games are better than others. We didn't defend the second phase of the corner well enough. That has been a theme of the home games.

"Six in a row without a win from a team that plays good football. That is not a feeling you want, we are trying to make it right but we are not succeeding. That is my responsibility."

Middlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg said he is feeling plenty of positivity from the club's supporters despite a five-game winless run which has led to them dropping out of the Championship's automatic promotion places.

Boro were beaten 2-1 at home by promotion rivals Millwall on Good Friday, before needing Tommy Conway to convert from the penalty spot to claim a 2-2 draw at Swansea on Monday.

"The supporters I have met have been brilliant, so proud of the team, proud of how we play, and they have been so supportive," Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees.

"Overall, it might sound weird, but what I get from everyone is a lot of affection for how we play, how we act, how the team has created opportunities. And mainly the last thing everyone says is it has to turn and that's where you still believe, but you have to make it turn, and that's what we're trying to do."

Middlesbrough host Portsmouth on Saturday (15:00 BST) and the head coach only has his sights on one thing.

"It's all about winning the game, that's the most important thing," he said.

"With different players out, quality players out, different players in different positions, without the momentum of winning games, we have kept playing great football and creating opportunities and we have to take great belief out of that."

Listen to more Middlesbrough interviews and content on BBC Sounds.

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The EFL has announced the fixtures for the 2026-27 season will be published at midday on Thursday, 25 June.

The first-round draws for the Carabao Cup and the Vertu Trophy will be made on the same day.

The new season will kick off on the weekend of August 7-9 with the first round of the Carabao Cup, and the opening fixtures in the Championship, League One and League Two will follow a week later on 14-16 August.

The first round of the Vertu Trophy will be played in the week commencing 21 September.

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Middlesbrough welcome Portsmouth for a vital clash at both ends of the Championship table on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Having spent three months in the automatic promotion places, Boro slipped to third with defeat to Millwall and a draw at Swansea over the Easter weekend.

Relegation-battling Pompey have picked up just three points in eight games since their impressive 3-1 win at Millwall on 21 February, meaning they now sit just one point clear of Leicester in 22nd, albeit with a game in hand.

• Middlesbrough have won just one of their past nine league games against Portsmouth (D5 L3), a 3-1 away win in March 2012.

• Following their 1-0 win in October, Portsmouth are looking to complete the league double over Middlesbrough for the first time since 1993-94.

• Middlesbrough are winless in their past five Championship games (D3 L2), their longest run of the season. Since the date of that first winless game, they've had 48 more shots than any other side (126) and 122 more touches in the opposition's box than anyone else (272). Despite this, they've only scored four goals and have the worst shot conversion (3.2%), underperforming their xG by 8.9 (4 goals, 12.9 xG).

• Portsmouth have gone eight Championship matches without winning (D3 L5), their worst winless run since failing to win their first nine games of 2024-25.

• Middlesbrough's Hayden Hackney has created the most chances both overall (83) and in open play (62) in the Championship this season. He's also completed 848 passes in the final third, the fourth-most by a player in a Championship season (excl. play-offs) on record since 2013-14.

Head coach Kim Hellberg believes Middlesbrough should have been out of sight before suffering a costly second half turnaround at the hands of Millwall.

Boro led at half-time thanks to a Dael Fry header, but that was the least they merited for a commanding performance.

But the Lions turned the match on its head in the second period, with ex-Boro forward Josh Coburn scoring twice on his Riverside return to seal all three points.

Defeat meant Middlesbrough fall out of the automatic promotion spots at Millwall's expense, making the defeat even harder to accept.

"It hurts a lot," Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees.

"Sometimes it feels like some higher power up there tests us so much and we have to be strong.

"In many ways, I'm thinking this was a performance that should have killed the game off and been dead and buried after 60 minutes, 4-0 or 5-0.

"The boys were doing it unbelievably good after coming back one or two days ago against a good side, so it's tough."

Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg has urged his players and the fans to enjoy the push for automatic promotion to the Premier League.

Second-placed Boro are two points clear of Ipswich in third, having played a game more than the Tractor Boys, and host promotion rivals Millwall in a vital encounter on Friday lunchtime (12:30 BST).

The Lions are also just two points back in fourth and would leapfrog Boro with victory at the Riverside.

"It's one month of the Championship left and that is an intense period," Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees.

"All of the games will be important. Big games, a lot of games to play in a short amount of time, but this is what we're in the sport for."

Despite Ipswich having a game in hand, the fact Boro visit Portman Road on 18 April means their promotion fate is still in their own hands.

Hellberg said it will be a lot of "hard work, emotions and ups and downs" but stressed it is important to "enjoy these moments because you don't get so many".

"To be in this position with seven games left, one month left, it is a brilliant position to be in and a very good time to be alive," he added.

"Of course, when you play against a rival at the top, it will be crucial to get the points.

"I'm just looking forward to it."

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Championship clubs spent just over £69.5m on agents fees over the past 12 months according to figures released by the Football Association,, external an increase of £6m on the previous year.

The figures cover the period from February 2025 with Ipswich Town the top spenders, paying £11.7m having spent the first three months of the accounting period in the Premier League.

Southampton (£8.3m) and Leicester (£5.8m), who were relegated alongside Ipswich are the second and third-highest payers on the list.

Troubled Sheffield Wednesday were the most frugal when dealing with agents, spending £534,559.

Wrexham come in sixth on the list with an outlay of £3.6m while current Championship leaders Coventry spent just short of £1.5m.

Championship agents' fee spending, external

• Ipswich - £11,738,920

• Southampton - £8,381,358

• Leicester City - £5,866,587

• Sheffield United - £5,005,498

• Norwich - £4,020,206

• Wrexham - £3,660,584

• Swansea - £3,088,645

• Middlesbrough - £2,900,314

• Bristol City - £2,774,990

• Hull City - £2,450,431

• Stoke City - £2,088,886

• Birmingham City - £1,996,502

• Millwall - £1,982,348

• Preston North End - £1,831,233

• QPR - £1,829,036

• Watford - £1,612,833

• Coventry - £1,497,990

• Derby - £1,409,507

• West Brom - £1,346,030

• Oxford - £1,235,536

• Charlton - £904,698

• Portsmouth - £831,818

• Blackburn - £676,980

• Sheffield Wednesday - £534,559

"I don't think that expectation is there externally [for Millwall].

"So I think they can go in and attack this game. They will be the ones with less to lose, whereas Middlesbrough - the pressure is on them. Given the position they're in, it feels like if they don't do it, they are throwing it away."

The 72+ team are joined by Middlesbrough loans manager Tommy Smith to discuss the upcoming contest for second place between Middlesbrough and Millwall on Friday lunchtime (12:30 BST) and why it's the Lions who enter the fixture with the advantage.

Listen to the latest episode of the 72+ podcast on BBC Sounds

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Middlesbrough forward David Strelec scored his 10th senior international goal for Slovakia as they beat Romania 2-0 in a friendly in Bratislava on Tuesday night.

The 24-year-old was on target just after half-time for his second goal of the international break although the first came with mixed emotions.

Strelec also scored against Kosovo last Thursday as the Slovaks lost 4-3 at home in their World Cup play-off to miss out on this year's tournament in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

The former Slovan Bratislava striker joined Middlesbrough in September 2025 and will return to England to be part of Boro's squad for Friday's Championship match at home to Millwall (12:30 BST).

Middlesbrough are currently second in the Championship table, two points above their fourth-placed opponents.

A victory or a draw for Middlesbrough against Millwall in Good Friday's early game in the Championship (12:30 BST) will keep them in second until Monday with Ipswich Town not in action until then.

The Lions need a win to move into the automatic promotion places.

• Middlesbrough have won four of their past six league games against Millwall (L2), and are hoping to complete the double over the Lions for the first time since 2014-15.

• Millwall have won just one of their past nine away league games against Middlesbrough (D3 L5), a 1-0 victory in August 2023.

• Middlesbrough are winless in their past four home league games (D3 L1), last having a longer run at the Riverside Stadium in January/February 2024 (5).

• Millwall have won nine of their 19 Championship away games this season – only once have they reached double figures on the road in a single second tier campaign, doing so in 1987-88 when they were promoted to the top-flight (10).

• No player has had more shots (44), more shots on target (11) or accumulated a higher xG (2.4) without scoring in the Championship this season than Middlesbrough's Aidan Morris.

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Tommy Conway believes "there's no-one better in football to have behind you" than Andy Robertson as he tries to cement his place on the left side of Scotland's attack for this summer's World Cup finals.

The Middlesbrough striker realises he is one of those in the current squad who are in the position of "not knowing if we are going to go" to the Americas and face a "massive couple of months" to prove themselves to head coach Steve Clarke.

But he believes he "made an impact" as he made his first Scotland start despite the 1-0 defeat in Saturday's friendly at home to Japan.

"I really enjoyed it out there," 23-year-old Conway said. "I felt like it took me a while to get into the game, but once we got to grips with it, I naturally got into the game.

"We were unfortunate to lose the game, but we'll take the positives from it and go on Tuesday.

"Obviously it's been a while since I played for Scotland, but I like to think I took into the game what we've been working on in training.

"It wasn't too dissimilar to what I'm doing at club level. That's more or less where I've been playing - off the left and trying to come in and make things happen."

Conway said captain Andy Robertson, the Liverpool left-back, was "talking me through the game".

"There's no-one better in football to have behind you," he said. "Hopefully it is a combination on which we can build.

"When you are not having an impact in possession, you've got to have an impact out of possession and I feel like me and Robbo did that in the first half.

"In the second half, I thought our press was a lot better and allowed us to get up the pitch and in someone's face and that is a strength of mine."

Conway thought Saturday's match against Japan, and Tuesday's against Ivory Coast, would be good preparation for facing "players from three different continents" at the World Cup.

"Some of it I feel I have ever come across before, in terms of what they pose physically - they are sharp and they are fast and tactically they are good as well," he added of Japan.