Boro showed potential for great success

MIDDLESBROUGH will be hoping the summer holiday has proven a long enough break to allow the players and Kim Hellberg to lick their wounds and come back stronger next term.

- By CRAIG JOHNS

Boro’s promotion dreams last season were ended cruelly by Hull City’s stoppage time winner at Wembley in the play-off final.

But that’s gone now. The emphasis has to switch to the new season and hopefully building on the positives of last term's promotion push. Certainly since Hellberg arrived, there have been plenty.

In the end, he just didn’t have enough quality in depth to get Boro over the line. Nevertheless, there was plenty to see to offer optimism for the future, if the Swede can be provided with the right tools.

We pick out four performances in particular that encapsulate Boro's exciting potential under Hellberg.

Hull City 1-4 Middlesbrough

Coming in just the second game in charge for Hellberg, it was the first sign of the completely contrasting style that he was here to deliver, in comparison to what they had been playing under Rob Edwards.

Racing into a 4-0 lead by half-time, there was so much to like about Boro in the first 45 minutes - a lot of which was exactly how he wants his sides to look.