Having let their lead slip late on against Cardiff City last weekend, Bristol City and Liam Manning's attention now turns to Friday night's clash with Middlesbrough.

The Robins still remain within touching distance of the play-off places ahead of Michael Carrick's side's visit to Ashton Gate. While the Reds haven't quite been able to put together a consistent run of results in recent weeks, they are just two points adrift of sixth-placed West Brom and a win on Friday would move them into the play-off places, even if only for a matter of hours.

Despite investing well in both the summer and January transfer windows, Boro are in the midst of a difficult run of form. Carrick's side haven't won any of their last four Championship matches and make the trip to the West Country off of the back of a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Watford last time out.

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Although Middlesbrough still sit 11th in the table and have a game in hand on the majority of the teams around them, pressure is mounting on Carrick from supporters. However, the decision-makers at the Riverside Stadium are standing by the former Manchester United midfielder at this moment in time.

When the two sides met in the North East earlier this season, it was City who came out on top. Goals from Nahki Wells and Yu Hirakawa secured an impressive 2-0 win for the Robins who were led by Chris Hogg in Manning's absence.

An awful lot of football has been played since then. Ahead of Friday's game, Bristol Live spoke to Craig Johns from Teesside Live to get the latest insight from the Riverside Stadium.

How would evaluate Boro's season?

Underwhelming and inconsistent are the only two words you really need to sum up Boro’s season. Coming in with a strong squad, there was real ambition that Boro could have a successful campaign and perhaps even put themselves in the top-two mix this season. Consistently inconsistent though, Boro have, for much of the season, looked like a good team as far as the data is concerned. But they have been guilty of not being clinical enough at one end of the pitch and then comically error-ridden at the other end. It’s the perfect recipe for Boro underachieving so far this season. Currently 11th in the table, it’s a long way from where they were expected to be.

How much pressure is there on Michael Carrick currently?

A lot. It’s more so externally, with clear indications from those internally that they are fully behind the head coach and will give him time to turn things around. They head to Ashton Gate on the back of four straight defeats and after the most recent to Watford on Saturday, supporters made their feelings clear at full-time. In that sense, having two quickfire games away from home could be ideally timed for Carrick and Boro, with many supporters growing frustrated with the same old problems afflicting their side and the potential for the Riverside to turn quite toxic if things don’t improve.

The club offering clarity that Carrick will be staying should help. Boro fans in general will back the club as much as they possibly can and therefore the clarity will refocus efforts into getting behind the players and helping them try and turn their fortunes around. But if results don’t pick up, Carrick will really be in trouble.

How are former Robins Tommy Conway and Luke Ayling getting on?

Tommy Conway has proven an excellent signing so far and has increased significance now that Emmanuel Latte Lath has been sold. Latte Lath left last month for a club-record £22.5million, which says everything about his quality. Yet, to Conway’s credit, but for two hamstring injuries, he’s pushed Latte Lath hard for a place in the team throughout the season, and at times even kept him out. He has eight goals so far and prior to his recent comeback from injury, had one of the best goals-per-minute ratios in the division. On top of his goals, his overall efforts and work rate have really endeared him to supporters.

Ayling, on the other hand, is really struggling of late. On loan from Leeds in the second half of last season, he did really well and handing him a two-year contract as his Leeds deal expired was a no-brainer. He started the season reasonably well, albeit not quite hitting the heights of last term. He suffered an injury in November though and since returning around Christmas, he’s really struggled. Boro are finding a lot of problems from pacey wingers who are just beating the 33-year-old too easily down that wing. With Anfernee Dijksteel back from injury, it wouldn’t be a massive surprise if Ayling drops to the bench on Friday.

Who are the key players City fans should look out for?

Boro are really in a funk right now and, after a January transfer window in which they signed six players and sold seven, there has been a lot of change. It’s hardly a surprise they’ve looked so disjointed in recent games. They have plenty of individual quality though.

Hayden Hackney is influential driving forward from midfield. Morgan Whittaker is yet to show it in a Boro shirt, but his Championship record of 24 goals since the start of last season speaks for itself. His former Plymouth Argyle team-mate Finn Azaz is out of form right now but won Championship Player of the Month in November given his influence at that time. When on his game, he’s a key link player with an eye for a spectacular goal and also a killer pass.

Delano Burgzorg is about the only Boro player in any kind of form right now. He has three goals and two assists in his last seven games and is a bit of a maverick in his unpredictable nature. He can be a difference-maker with his powerful running. And of course, Conway’s yet to grab a goal in his three games since returning from injury but will be getting that sharpness back and will no doubt be hungry to make an impact on Friday evening.

What's your predicted line-up and how do you see the game going?

Given Boro are so out of form, it’s hard to imagine they just click their fingers and everything is suddenly okay again. In that respect, it might be scrappy and it might not be an easy victory. Carrick has a tendency of getting big results just when he needs them most though, so I’ll predict a really scrappy, hard-fought but unconvincing 1-0 away win.

Predicted Team: Travers, Dijksteel, Fry, Van den Berg, Giles, Hackney, Morris, Whittaker, Azaz, Burgzorg, Conway.

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