If it wasn’t evident before Saturday, there’s no reason to believe that either Derby or Bournemouth are going to crack and go ‘after you, Claude’ for Boro.
With ‘automatic’ ambitions, Karanka’s Men have to match or better those two game by game until they get the chance to crack them in the head to heads on their turf.
On the face of it, a three one home win over Charlton looks like Boro stayed on that required track comfortably without taking any comparative GD advantage.
Though all’s well that ended well, The Reds made heavier going than needed of this encounter with a team on the worst run of form in The Championship.
Worse than that, the stiffer challenge that the game became was the result of self-inflicted sloppiness, especially before the break after they got a goal up.
Only the players will know how much that was down to cranial swelling resulting from believing their own publicity causing their ‘that’s it, then’ torpor.
After Bam-Bam had Boro ahead in just six minutes the proper response was to keep the foot on the Addicks neck, get the second and go on from there.
Instead it was foot off the gas then feet up and that got what it deserved when Berg Gudmondssson rattled a left foot, top corner equaliser past Dimi on thirty-seven.
In his technical area, Karanka just nodded in a ‘yep - that was coming and we brought it on ourselves’ way.
He looked like he was itching to put his boot up Boro backsides in the half time dressing room to underscore that he wasn’t going to succumb to any ‘curse of the Manager of the Month’ nonsense!
The dressing down had the desired effect and his charges came out with the urgency they should have shown from the seventh minute.
Vossen slotted home a Tomlin assist from close in to get his side ahead again within three minutes of the restart and Boro got a grip of the game.
Opportunities to get the third and some breathing space came and went while Charlton threatened less and less.
Relief for the near nineteen thousand home fans finally arrived with a corner on eighty-eight.
In a training ground routine, Leadbelter arced the flag kick to the edge of the box in the D where it arrived at waist height.
Lee Tomlin underlined his Player of the Month credentials with a sweet volleyed finish that sliced into the corner of the net.
Job properly done, at last.
Unusually, Karanka chose to go same again for this game but has hinted he’ll make some changes for the Tuesday trip to Blackpool and a surface that is more suited to beach volleyball than Championship football.
I’d guess that Forshaw might feature from the start for the first time and Dani Ayala will replace Ken Omeruo in the back four on his return from suspension.
Adam Reach could start instead of Adomah who looks like he’d benefit from benching and James Husband might give Gorgeous a spell.
If Boro’s players need any more anti-swellhead motivation they might bear in mind that they let the Donkey Botherers mug them for a point at The Riverside in the reverse fixture and that Bournemouth and Derby meet each other on the same evening.
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