With nothing to lose, it’s time to cast off shackles

MIDDLESBROUGH may need a miracle to earn the top six place which we thought was there for the taking last August.

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They can certainly help themselves by casting away some of the chains and playing with great gusto and belief in the remaining games.

Oh what would we give now to know that the final match, away to Coventry City, might be a six-pointer with a play-off place as the prize for the winners.

At the moment it doesn’t look likely to happen. A season which promised so much is threatening to end like a damp squib.

Questions are already beginning to be asked. Everything was in place at the start of the season and the club tried to re-strengthen in January for a renewed push.

Clearly the club's objective was to try to go up this season and for a long time we all believed it was possible.

However Boro are where they are because of inconsistency of performance. In a league where everybody is apparently capable of beating everybody else, Boro have been dragged into the melee.