Source: Northern_Echo
Yeates is happy to be away with Boro
MARK YEATES feels travelling to St James' Park on Sunday could actually help Middlesbrough enjoy a change of fortunes at the Riverside Stadium.[LNB] A new record low turnout for a league fixture witnessed Boro lose on Sunday for the sixth time on Teesside, form which has ultimately led to a dreadful drop down the Championship rankings.[LNB] Boro are ten points adrift of second placed West Brom, 17 shy of leaders Newcastle and three short of the final playoff spot.[LNB] Yeates, one of his team's better performers against Cardiff City, feels it is not the time to be too despondent and claims Sunday's visit to Tyneside can revive a frustrating campaign.[LNB] After the defeat to Blackpool we all wanted to go out and prove a point, said Yeates.[LNB] No-one can put their finger on why we can't get results at the moment. We will all plug really hard to put it right. We want to make our place hard to come to and it's frustrating for us all when we can't get results at home.[LNB] We can't dwell on things.[LNB] But I think overall we were the better side on Sunday, but we just cant get that little bit of luck. It will change.[LNB] Six home defeats does not read well. The only thing we can do is make sure we put it right in the next game. It does take hard work and everyone has to stick together.[LNB] This league is a strange league, we are on a bad run at the moment but I'm sure teams ahead of us will have a blip further down the line.[LNB] We firmly believe we can get into the top six and that has to be the aim. We can't be too down.[LNB] Like manager Gordon Strachan and the rest of the squad, Yeates has been as surprised as everyone else by the alarming run at home, which reads just five wins from 25 matches dating back to last season.[LNB] He said: There's no magic wand. At home you want to please your fans and play good football. At times there has been a lack of quality and we would hold our hands up for that. That little bounce isn't going our way.[LNB] Take Sunday, Cardiff hit a free-kick which missed everyone from 30 yards and it went in. We went down the other end, hit the bar, it then hits everyone else, and is cleared.[LNB] A couple of inches and we would have been level. We just have to focus and make sure we get a result at Newcastle.[LNB] Then hopefully things will change at home as well.[LNB] Without accepting the promotion spots are out of sight, Yeates conceded that securing a play-off place has to be their main aim now.[LNB] If you look at the top two they are a lot of points ahead of us, but teams can go through blips and we have to make sure we have had ours and we make the most of the other teams' blips, said Yeates.[LNB] Our aim is to push into the top six and I believe we have a group of players who can do that. If we keep getting down and despondent it is not going to help.[LNB] As players you go through bad spells, through hard times, you have to stand up and be a man, and we all have to do that.[LNB] Strachan is expected to ring the changes in January by bringing in some fresh faces to revive their promotion aspirations.[LNB] A perfect way to do that would be to raise much-needed transfer funds by offloading Adam Johnson before his contract expires next summer.[LNB] Chairman Steve Gibson, however, is reluctant to cash in next month if there is still a chance of a Premier League return. With three points separating them from the play-off zone, it is still a possibility.[LNB] That is unlikely to put off Sunderland and Everton, while Chelsea are also interested, so it remains to be seen whether Johnson will still be on Teesside in February.[LNB] Boro's injury jinx struck again yesterday as defender Seb Hines scored in a 3-2 reserve win over Morecambe, before leaving the field on a stretcher in the second half with his leg strapped in a brace.[LNB] Hines, who had been in contention to replace Sean St Ledger while the ineligible Irishman waits to complete a permanent move from Preston in January, remained prostrate on the ground after sliding in to make a clearance.[LNB] He was stretchered off with the lower part of his right leg in a brace, and will be sidelined for a lengthy spell if scans reveal a fracture.[LNB] Hines opened the scoring eight minutes before the interval, with Kieran Edwards and Cameron Park also scoring for Boro's second string in the second half. Gavin Clark and Marvin Williams were on target for Morecambe.[LNB] Boro: Steele; Atkinson, Grounds, Hines (Edwards 55), Bennett; Gray, Pilatos, Smallwood, Park; Franks (Weldon 71) Williams (Shead 64). Sub (not used): Smith (gk).[LNB]
