Former winger Peter Beagrie believes Boro have to be considered favourites against Leeds tomorrow and hailed Lee Tomlin as the best player in the Championship.
Beagrie, now a Sky Sports pundit and commentator, made 33 appearances for his hometown club between 1983 and 1986.
After Tuesday’s hard-fought 1-1 draw at Birmingham, Aitor Karanka’s Boro now sit top of the Championship and could go four points clear at the summit with a win over Leeds United in tomorrow’s lunchtime showdown.
And Boro-born Beagrie believes the Teessiders are favourites to notch a sixth straight home victory, after being impressed with the team’s displays at Blackpool, Arsenal and Birmingham.
“(Boro) have had a terrific season,” Beagrie wrote in his latest Sky Sports column.
“They are solid at the back, have a goal threat from midfield, are strong and organised and have strikers who can score goals in Kike and Patrick Bamford.
“The best player in the Championship at times this year has been Boro’s magician Lee Tomlin playing just behind the front man.
“Their last couple of performances tell you a lot about them. They had a tremendous win at Blackpool on a quagmire of a pitch, which says plenty about the resolve about the team.
“Then they got the point against Birmingham away from home. They had the keeper sent off and managed to get a brilliant draw which will have felt like a win after getting a point from the jaws of defeat.
“They were strong enough and had the ability to take the opportunity and they are above Bournemouth now and top of the division.”
“The FA Cup defeat to Arsenal told me a lot about Boro because they were desperately disappointed. They fancied their chances and thought they had let themselves down.”
Karanka will be looking to end a personal drought against Leeds, having failed to win in his three matches against the Yorkshire rivals.
His very first game in charge of Boro was in a 2-1 defeat at Elland Road, while the two teams drew 0-0 at the Riverside 12 months ago.
Leeds capitalised on a Tomas Mejias error earlier this season to snatch a late 1-0 victory at home, with Boro aggrieved after Albert Adomah’s acrobatic effort was ruled out.
But despite that, Beagrie fancies Boro to claim all three points tomorrow lunchtime.
“In a Championship season that is going to be as close as ever this is a big game,” he added.
“Boro are favourites because they have mostly performed well in the big games but both sets of fans will be turning up in their numbers believing they have an opportunity.
“It’s a traditional old-style Yorkshire derby. Before it was Teesside and Cleveland it was North Yorkshire and the biggest games to be involved in for Boro was against Leeds.
“When I played it was very tense, very close, with lots of passion, commitment, incidents and maybe red cards. I imagine it will be a terrific game.”
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