THE East Riding of Yorkshire – and not just the north of the county – had more than a passing interest in the events which transpired at the Riverside Stadium on Wednesday evening.

It ended in relieving fashion for Middlesbrough, who effectively booked their place in the Championship play-offs following a tense single-goal victory over Sheffield Wednesday.

Fifth-placed Boro moved level on points with Southampton in the process. The pair are six points clear of Wrexham and Hull City with two games left in the regular season.

The vastly superior goal difference of both the Teessiders and Saints means that the Red Dragons and Tigers are now in a straight shoot-out for the final spot in the end-of-season lottery.

Middlesbrough manager Kim Hellberg during the Sky Bet Championship match at the Riverside Stadium. Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire.

placeholder image — Middlesbrough manager Kim Hellberg during the Sky Bet Championship match at the Riverside Stadium. Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire.

Southampton still have designs on claiming the second automatic promotion place. They are in a three-way scrap with Ipswich Town and Millwall, who currently hold second and third position respectively.

Southampton welcome Ipswich at St Mary's next Tuesday; they are no doubt keeping their fingers crossed that the Suffolk outfit slip up before then at West Brom on Saturday.

Mathematically, Boro, who host Watford this weekend, can still finish as runners-up to champions Coventry City, but it is extremely unlikely and would require several favourable results elsewhere.

Their main fight surrounds regaining some semblance of form – which has fallen off a cliff toward the end of the season – before the play-offs.

Middlesbrough's Morgan Whittaker celebrates scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Sky Bet Championship match against Sheffield Wednesday at the Riverside Stadium. Photo: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire.

The win over the relegated Owls was gratefully received at least. The hosts survived a nervy finale after protecting the early lead given to them by Morgan Whittaker, which followed Gabriel Otegbayo's faux pas.

Afterwards, the performance left far more questions than answers, as it possessed many imperfections.

In mitigation, the Teessiders remain without their best player in recently-crowned Championship player of the season in Hayden Hackney – any second-tier side would miss him – with Riley McGree also being conspicuous by his absence.

Supporters were still entitled to expect better after seeing their side labour to victory over a Wednesday outfit whose epic winless league run now stands at 38 matches.

It was Boro's first win in seven games – they also ended a six-match sequence without one at the Riverside, which stretched back to January 31.

That was where the good news ended, really. They would be shrewd to take their forthcoming meetings against Watford and the final-day trip to Wrexham with seriousness.

Hull certainly hope that Boro will do in terms of the latter fixture at the Racecourse Ground on Saturday week, where a favourable result for their east coast rivals could be huge in their own mission.

The fact that the pressure is off regarding Boro finishing in the play-offs after such a damning streak without a win ended might, just might, enable them to express themselves with a little bit of the style which they displayed in the early months of Kim Hellberg's tenure.

Asked about whether some pressure has at least eased on his side, Hellberg said: “Absolutely. To get to the play-offs is a massive thing.

“You always want to be first or second. But to get to the play-offs means you have a 25 per cent chance of ending up in the Premier League through the play-offs and that opportunity doesn't come often. This is a massive thing for the club, for me, and for the players to already know we are at least in that one.”

As for still having a faint chance of finishing second? Well, that's a nice sort of expectation, given where Boro have been of late.

Hellberg continued: “We have Watford here on Saturday to try and win and take it to the last day of the season where we know that everything can happen.

“Our main focus is to win against Watford, build momentum and take it to the last day of the season.

“There's always pressure for all the teams that are out there. There are good sides and it will be exciting to see what happens in these next week and see how they cope with everything as it is also a mental game and not easy just to get those wins when you need to do it. It will be interesting to see what happens until the last day of the season. Momentum is very, very important.”

Hellberg, who has quickly cultivated a strong connection with Boro followers since arriving in November, serenaded them at the final whistle on Wednesday.

At one point, he also took it upon himself to grab a megaphone handed to him by a fan in the South Stand and issue a rallying call after such a tough past month-and-a-half.

The Swede added: “I just wanted to give energy back to the people who give us energy all the time.

“I have been supported unbelievably from my first day here. Every person I meet outside of the stadium is so happy and positive about everything, and I just wanted to give a little bit more back.”