'Winning is always the most important thing': Karanka believes bright future beckons for Boro

'This team has shown me that it's a winning team and we can build a team for the future with a very good mentality and with very good players'

Aitor Karanka believes the future’s looking brighter following his side’s victories over high-flying Derby and Brighton.

Saturday’s 1-0 win against Steve McClaren’s Rams means Boro have won back-to-back games in the Championship for the first time since January 18.

Once again, Karanka’s men kept a clean sheet and they’ve now achieved 13 shut-outs in the last 20 fixtures and the head coach believes that bodes well for the future.

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Katie Lunn

Boro v Brighton match action

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Boro are 11 points adrift of the play-off places with just six games remaining, so promotion is not a realistic option.

But a bid to escape the Championship next season seems an achievable aim if the club can beef up the attack in the summer.

“This team has shown me that it’s a winning team and we can build a team for the future with a very good mentality and with very good players,” said Karanka.

“When you keep a clean sheet it shows that the team is working very well, the players are working very well. And, of course, it means that when you only score one goal you can win games. In football, winning is always the most important thing.

“We’ve only won two of the last four or five games at home but I think we deserve to have won more of them so I’m glad to have won.

“We deserved to win at home, not against QPR in the last match, but against Nottingham Forest, Leeds and Blackburn before that and we didn’t win.”