BORO have history on their side tomorrow as they look to protect an impressive winning record at Brighton.
The Teessiders have won on their last two trips to The Amex and drew the first, extending a record that has not seen Brighton beat Boro on the South Coast in 24 years.
The last time the Seagulls did get the better of Boro was during a 1-0 win in 1990 - but the current Brighton boss Sami Hyypia has played down the importance of such statistics.
He told The Argus: “I didn’t know that and I don’t really care about statistics about what has happened.
“Two years ago we went to play Munich and Leverkusen hadn’t won there for 25 or 30 years.
“People were asking before the game how I was feeling about not having won for ages there.
“I said statistics are not important for me, what you do on the pitch on the day is the most important thing, and we won 2-1. Statistics are there to be broken.”
Jimmy Griffiths/Griffiths Photographers
Danny Graham celebrates with Luke Williams and Nathaniel Chalobah
Boro travel to Brighton looking to extend their six-match unbeaten run in the Championship - and Aitor Karanka’s side have not tasted defeat away from The Riverside since the 1-0 setback at Leeds United in August.
And former Liverpool defender Hyypia believes Boro will be among those challenging for promotion come the end of the season.
“They are a good team. I think everyone expected them to be thereabouts”, he said.
“It doesn’t worry me to play against good teams. It’s a good challenge and a chance for us to show that we can be better than the best teams in this league. I look at it as another opportunity to show what we can do.”
Karanka has no new major injury concerns with Jonathan Woodgate, Damia Abella, Rhys Williams and Mustapha Carayol the only players on the sidelines.
But two players who will not be travelling to Brighton are Emmanuel Ledesma and Luke Williams, with both men included in Paul Jenkins’ starting line-up for Boro Under-21s this afternoon.
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