Middlesbrough FC boss Kim Hellberg gives 'massive credit' to Sheffield Wednesday after tense win
MIDDLESBROUGH head coach Kim Hellberg expressed his relief after the hosts effectively booked their Championship play-off place with a tense 1-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday - while paying tribute to the relegated Owls for handing his side a major scare.
Boro prevailed thanks to an early goal from Morgan Whittaker, who netted the only goal of the game for the second time this season against Wednesday.
It came after an awful error from Owls defender Gabriel Otegbayo, whose dreadful backpass sold keeper Murphy Cooper shorth and was seized upon by Whittaker, who netted his 12th goal of the season.
With Boro's goal difference just superior to Hull City and Wrexham, the Teessiders, barring the maths, are assured of a top-six finish.
Despite being relegated and still on a minus points tally, Wednesday produced another game performance, after coming into the match on the back of a three-match unbeaten sequence.
They pushed on late on and went close to a leveller through substitute Will Grainger and had a shout for a penalty turned down when Aidan Morris handled, but referee David Webb felt the Boro player had been pushed.
Boro held out to secure their first win in seven matches and first in six games at the Riverside, where their previous three points arrived on January 31.
Hellberg said: "I am relieved. You always thought that was going to be the case (tonight). Massive credit to the opposition.
"Like I said before the game, they have battled through this type of situation they have been in. They have taken a point from the champions away from home and had three in a row (unbeaten) and came without fear.
"Massive credit to them, but credit to our boys to be strong defensively in that last 10 minutes. I think we should have killed the game off earlier in that situation. But it is always going to be tough to do that when you have not won in a while.
"I am very happy with the win. It was a top performance against Ipswich where we should have won (on Sunday), to be fair. Everyone knows why we didn't.
"It was not our best day, absolutely. But we created chances to be ahead with more goals. We had very short rest between games and there were some leggy players, you could see that. Football is a mental game and you just need to get that win.
"You could see the whole stadium was nervous, everyone is nervous at the end and there is a natural reaction as we needed to try and win bad and I was very impressed with how the players battled through it."