Kim Hellberg is "passionate" about playing football the right way and proud of how Middlesbrough have been going about theirs, but one sentence summed up where they are right now.

"I just want to go out on Saturday and win the f***ing game," said the Swedish coach in his pre-match press conference. Because performances are all well and good but in the last five matches of the season, which for Boro starts at home to Portsmouth, results are all that matter.

The Teessiders have created bucketloads of chances in the five games since their 4-0 victory at Queens Park Rangers and won none, putting their hopes of promotion to the Premier League partly in the hands of others.

But Hellberg is proud how they have stuck to their principles.

MIDDLESBROUGH, ENGLAND - MARCH 11: Middlesbrough manager Kim Hellberg reacts on the touchline during the Sky Bet Championship match between Middlesbrough and Charlton Athletic at Riverside Stadium on March 11, 2026 in Middlesbrough, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

placeholder image — MIDDLESBROUGH, ENGLAND - MARCH 11: Middlesbrough manager Kim Hellberg reacts on the touchline during the Sky Bet Championship match between Middlesbrough and Charlton Athletic at Riverside Stadium on March 11, 2026 in Middlesbrough, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

"It could have been easy to drop a lot of quality in the performance," he argued. "I don't think we've had that but of course we need to be better in the key moments of the game. It's important to stay positive, stay brave. It may sound weird, but overall I get affection for how we play, how we act, how the team has created opportunities, from everyone – opposition players, opposition coaches and supporters.

"The last thing everyone says is it will turn and that's what we believe but you have to make it turn.

"I've been through tough spells before where we've lost games but more in a different way.

"I can't recognise any team I support or anything like that putting up five performances like that in terms of just statistics (and not winning).

"It's easy to stop playing good football, stop creating chances because their confidence gets worse with not getting a result but it hasn't been like that. The one thing I'm most proud of is how we have acted, how we have played football.

"That is what I'm good at, making teams play in a certain way. It's been good at all my clubs in terms of doing that and over time that will give me very good results and good development of the players.

"But the last four weeks is just about getting results."

Matt Targett and forwards Morgan Whittaker and Sammy Silvera could all return