Mowbray looking for home improvement

Middlesbrough boss Tony Mowbray believes his side could have been challenging for automatch promotion - had their home form been better.

Boro are currently sixth in the Championship table - ten points behind second-placed Reading, and 15 behind league leaders Southampton.

Until recently, Middlesbrough had kept up the pace with the top sides. But two defeats and a draw in their last three matches has seen a gap open up at the top of the table.

It leaves Mowbray's team facing an uphill battle to catch the Hoops for an automatic rise to the Premier League. Instead, a more realistic route for Boro may now be through the playoffs.

Speaking ahead of his side's match with Bristol City at the weekend, Mowbray said:

"We have genuinely, over the season, not won enough games at home. If we had, we'd have been threatening the top two a lot more than we are at the moment."

He added: "I think we've found all season at home that I don't think we've ever ran away with a game very comfortably."

On Saturday's game with Bristol at the Riverside, Mowbray said: