Darragh Lenihan on 'vital point' as Middlesbrough FC focus on another dangerous side in Preston

Mindful that victory would have moved Boro within a point of second-placed Sheffield United, Michael Carrick's side – seeking an eighth successive home league win – were pegged back in a 1-1 draw by an impressive Stoke City.

Despite Boro opening the scoring with a 14th goal in 10 home matches for Chuba Akpom – who took his season's tally to 24 – the Potters were the better side in the second half after drawing level on the stroke of half-time.

Despite Boro being second best, they dug out a point, which Lenihan believes could still be valuable.

He said: "We’ve obviously been on a good run. But it wasn’t to be this time and in football, you’re going to have nights like that, you can’t win every game.

"But we’ll take the positives from the game and look to build on it for Saturday.

“That’s the challenge. We knew coming in, they (Stoke) were in good form and are a good team.

"We will hope this will prove a vital point come the end of the season."

While it represented an opportunity lost for Boro in regards to the league table, Lenihan insists that he and his team-mates won't be getting ‘hung-up’, mindful that plenty can still happen between now and season's end.

It is wise, given Boro host another dangerous mid-tabler with the pressure off – and also good on the road – in Preston next.

The centre-half added: "If you get hung up looking too far ahead you lose focus on the opposition that are directly coming up and in this league, that’s dangerous.

"We’ll focus now on analysing this game, see where we can improve, take some positives, but also put it behind us and look forward to Preston."