Kim Hellberg makes 'quality' claim as Middlesbrough prepare for Cardiff City test

Kim Hellberg believes Middlesbrough’s recent run of strong form shows that his players are ‘progressing’ as they look to secure promotion into the Premier League.

After suffering just one defeat in their first 10 league games, Boro are sitting in second place in the Championship table and are just two points adrift of leaders Swansea City ahead of Saturday lunchtime’s home game with Cardiff City. After claiming wins against in-form Wolves and Stoke City over the last week, confidence is high within Hellberg’s ranks and the Swede has insisted the quality of his players is starting to shine through.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, the Boro boss said: “I think we have played a lot of the games that are up there. I think we have played a lot of teams that have had a very good start to the season and it’s always important to try and beat those teams. It’s always important to win football games, whoever you play - but it gives a lot of confidence beating teams that have won a lot of games, coming from different runs, which we have done now. Stoke was the best in terms of the last six game you’ve looked at and we’ve had a very good spell. Wolves had a very good spell before we played them so it shows a lot about the group and the quality that we are progressing.”

‘I think they deserve more points than they have’ - Hellberg on Cardiff City

Cardiff will travel to the Riverside Stadium sitting in the bottom six of the Championship table after winning just two of their first ten games of the campaign. However, those two wins have come in their last three games as Brian Barry-Murphy’s side have collected maximum points from home fixtures against Charlton Athletic and Watford that came either side of a 2-1 defeat at Blackburn Rovers.

Despite their struggles in the first two months of the season, Hellberg has been impressed with what he has seen from the Welsh outfit and insisted they deserve a greater return from their league games during the campaign.

He said: “I like them a lot, I think they are a very good side. I think they play good football, I think the coach has done an absolutely brilliant job. They are very brave on the ball and together with us, the most in-possession teams I think. They create a lot of chances, they have been open in the way of playing and they are very brave so I think Cardiff is a very good football side and have been causing problems for all teams. I think they deserve more points than they have.”

Hellberg confirmed David Strelec will miss Saturday’s game with an injury he picked up during the recent international break but revealed the forward could be back in training next week. Defender Alfie Jones will miss out and Rokas Pukstas is set for a spell on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.

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