Rotherham United v Middlesbrough: Leam Richardson hoping to summon spirit of survival clincher

The Millers remain nine points from safety at the foot of the Championship after going down 3-0 at leaders Leicester City on Saturday.

Rotherham were in relegation danger at the end of last season before beating Middlesbrough on home soil to end the threat.

Asked whether the Boxing Day clash with Boro in front of a full house at the New York Stadium could stir Rotherham, Richardson replied: "Course it can if it was a good positive situation.

"It'd be great to repeat that. Fingers crossed we can produce a similar performance, result and it'll be a positive Boxing Day."

Richardson's side held firm for an hour at the King Power Stadium, only to concede three goals in the space of 12 minutes as Leicester opened up a six-point lead at the top.

The Foxes opened the scoring when Patson Daka finished from close range before the striker doubled the lead from the penalty spot five minutes later after he was fouled by Viktor Johansson.

On-loan midfielder Cesare Casadei sealed the points after 72 minutes with a diving header from Ricardo Pereira’s cross from the left to earn Leicester a fifth consecutive league victory and extend Rotherham's winless run to 11 games.

The away date with the Foxes was the first of four games in nine days.

After hosting Middlesbrough, the Millers welcome Sunderland to the New York Stadium before travelling to Blackburn Rovers on New Year's Day.

"It's a pivotal period," added Richardson, who has overseen three straight defeats since taking over a fortnight ago.

"It's well known within football that during the festive period you can pick a lot of points up and go clear at the top or make a surge for safety.

"We know this period is pivotal. We've got some important games coming up.

“It’s a challenging league and a challenging position that we’re in but one of the things we can guarantee is that we’ll make a right good fist of it.

“Everything is a habit – winning is a habit, losing is a habit. If you’ve got bad habits you’ll serve for them but if you’ve got strong habits they’ll come to the front and that’s what we need to change.”

Middlesbrough warmed up for the trip to Rotherham with a 1-0 victory over fellow promotion hopefuls West Bromwich Albion to move to within three points of the top six.

Morgan Rogers scored the only goal against his former club as Michael Carrick’s side rounded off a perfect week bookended by wins at Swansea City in the Championship and Port Vale in the League Cup quarter-finals.

“Naturally after Tuesday and the highs and the draw and people talking about (semi-final opponents) Chelsea, I thought our mentality was top quality to reset and start again and put a top performance in,” said Carrick.

“There was so much to take from it. It was a proper performance and a proper win.”