Tommy Conway's Middlesbrough 'expectation' point as he sums up mood heading into crucial week

Tommy Conway believes Championship rivals will be sitting up and taking notice of Middlesbrough, and says they must step-up to match the rising expectations as they prepare for what could be a crucial week in their promotion race.

While nothing will be definitely decided in the next week or so, Boro play three promotion rivals within the space of eight days in what could prove a telling period for Michael Carrick's side. They kick-off with a tough trip to Burnley on Friday evening before next Tuesday's trip to Leeds United. They then host in-form Millwall who are currently unbeaten in nine games.

But Boro are in their own strong run of form, winning four of their last five games, while scoring 18 goals in the process. With that form doing wonders for the belief in the Boro dressing room, Conway is hoping he and his team-mates can step-up and prove themselves over the next ten days.

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“People are going to start seeing us as a good team now and we’ve got to try to live up to that expectation," he said. "It requires everyone to step-up on the day, and live it and be present. If you look at the teams at the top of any league around the world, they win when they’re expected to.

"If that’s where we want to be then that’s what we’ve got to strive towards. We have to start being so big a threat that teams worry about us. Particularly at home - no one should come here and take points off us easily. We’re getting there. I think we’re so close, if not there already.

"Given the past couple of weeks and the amount of goals that have gone in, I think teams will start to look at us and we’re in a really good place. We’ve got two tough games coming up now and hopefully we can go there and show what we’re capable of."

Thinking specifically about the upcoming away games at Turf Moor and Elland Road, he continued: “We’re professional footballers for moments like this, games like this. You want to play against the best teams in the league and test yourself. People are going to expect a certain level of us and we need to live up to that. The aim will be to take the game to them and I’ve got no doubts about it that we will.

"We’ll go there with a game plan and hopefully we can come away from both games with positive results. No matter who plays, we feel we’ve got a great chance. Everyone is so invested and everyone is working hard day in and day out. Now we have that confidence, I think we’re capable of going to places like Burnley and Leeds and getting a result.”