'Ultimate confidence' inside Middlesbrough dressing room starting to pay off

It's perhaps no coincidence that some of Middlesbrough's best performances of the season have coincided with a return to form for Finn Azaz.

The Republic of Ireland forward put in an outstanding display in the 5-1 win over Luton Town last time out, not only scoring twice but setting up Emmanuel Latte Lath for Boro's second. It was his fifth assist of the campaign but, rather like the Middlesbrough side in general, it has been a mixed first few months of the season for the 24-year-old.

Few would argue that early season performances didn't get the results they merited, but Azaz insists there was never any doubt inside the Boro dressing room that it would change if they stuck to their principles.

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The home defeat to Coventry apart, that attitude is starting to pay off, with promotion rivals Sheffield United beaten before big wins over QPR and Luton. For Azaz, it's just reward for hard work behind the scenes, and a focus on what he needed to do on the pitch.

“I’m really happy with my performances throughout the season," he said. "I focused on trying to be consistent and nailing down a main role and position in the team and I’m really happy to do that.

"I just need to keep pushing to improve all the time now. I feel comfortable in the team now, and I think the team has been playing really well in general, which helps because they’re able to get me the ball. The trust from the manager in me in that position, and the trust from my team-mates to just constantly give me the ball, really helps. It’s been really enjoyable.

“People always look at goals and assists, of course. But I’d like to think if people are watching the games they’ll see that even when they weren’t coming, the performances were still good.

"I’ve been really happy with them. Obviously if you are consistent with performances, the goals and assists will come. I’ve focused more on being consistent in my performances rather than worry too much about how many goals or assists I was getting.

"I felt I was doing a lot of the right things and maybe not getting the rewards for it, but it was important to just keep doing the right things and believing it would come. There was never any frustration at all. We’ve got the ultimate confidence in that dressing room that it will come at all times. We’re not really looking at stats and things like that, we’re just trying to be consistent with our training and in games every single week."

Boro return to Championship action at Oxford United on Saturday, November 23, before a Riverside showdown with Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday, November 27.