Aitor Karanka has spoken of his pride in his players following Boro's table-topping victory at Norwich City.
The hard-fought 1-0 win means Middlesbrough have given themselves a genuine chance of claiming one of the two automatic promotion places.
Boro took the lead in the ninth minute courtesy of Alexander Tettey's own goal and then defended magnificently to limit the hosts to just a handful of goalscoring chances.
Both Bournemouth and Watford can leapfrog Boro if they win their fixtures on Saturday but the victory at Carrow Road means Boro are ideally placed to take advantage of any slip ups those two teams may make in the final straight.
A delighted Karanka paid tribute to his players , saying: “This was an amazing performance against a team who I think are a Premier League team.
“I said before the game that Norwich have Premier League players so nobody can be more proud of the players than I am. All the team was brilliant.
“We started really well, we knew we had to be better than we were in the games at Bournemouth and Watford and we even had chances to score a second goal.
“They put us under pressure but I don't recall them creating too many clear cut chances.”
Norwich's best chance fell to Jonny Howson, who headed wide from close-range in the 20 minute.
The hosts also had two penalty shouts turned down but the referee was right to wave away the appeals do so on both occasions.
Karanka's focus is now on making sure Boro take maximum points from their two remaining games.
“We haven't done anything yet,” he warned. “We are top at the moment but we could be second or third on Saturday night.
“So we have to keep going until the end but I just want to say again everything this team does is amazing,” he added.
“I was speaking with my staff today and saying that since we went to Marbella last summer to work, there are now just six players from that trip in the squad.
“All the players who have come in since there are helping us.
“Winning at Norwich means the players can feel they are capable of winning any game.”
Karanka confirmed that two players, Jelle Vossen and Patrick Bamford, were injured in the game and will be assessed over the weekend.
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