Kim Hellberg fires warning to his Middlesbrough FC players after Blackburn Rovers stalemate
Kim Hellberg has warned Middlesbrough will not win many of their remaining games if they cannot sharpen up in front of goal.
His promotion-chasing Championship side were held to a goalless draw away at Blackburn Rovers, failing to convert their dominance into three points.
Middlesbrough enjoyed 71 per cent possession and managed 12 shots but still blanked at Ewood Park.
They have scored just once across their last three games and Hellberg is keen to see improvement.
Kim Hellberg’s warning
He said: “I think the first half is one of our best halves in creating opportunities because often it’s tricky because everyone is fresh and it’s difficult to break them down. We did it very good today.
“Everyone can see we should, of course, be ahead in the first half. It’s a top performance away from home in this league in the first half. That’s disappointing.
“Then the fans want us to score goals and then it gets, in the second half, frustrating at not doing it and we try to do different things.
“It’s something you need to handle in a better way because I think, partially in the second half, you try to take care of those things and it could be a problem for us, because the second half is not as good after the first 20 minutes and that’s something I need to handle and work with.
“If we don’t score more, we’re not going to win so many of those last seven games, so that’s something we need to work on.”
Blackburn Rovers boss reflects
Blackburn boss Michael O’Neill, meanwhile, was full of praise for his players following their battling display.
He said: “[I am] very proud of the effort of the players. It was a real club effort today. I think the supporters were fabulous today when we needed them, especially in the second half.
“We knew we’d have to go long periods without the ball today. It’s always harder when you’re doing that at home but the fans reacted in the right way to that.
“I thought we had our moments. We could have been better a little bit with the ball, we know that. But in terms of desire to make sure we weren’t beaten and get over the line and take something from the game against one of the top two teams in the league and you can see why they’re in the position they are.
“I thought we limited it. First half, we needed the goalkeeper to make a couple of good saves which you expect. I thought we could possibly have done better on transition ourselves we know that. But overall, the effort of the players was magnificent.”