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James Crawley writes

Posted Thursday, April 12th 2018 @CrawleyJames92

We take belief to the Riverside - McAllister

Thursday, April 12th 2018

City will use Tuesday night's victory as a spring board heading into their Sky Bet Championship trip to Middlesbrough, says Jamie McAllister.

They are a side hungry for a play-off fight as goals from Marlon Pack, Bobby Reid and Matty Taylor secured a 3-1 victory over Birmingham City.

It was City's first victory since their 1-0 win over Ipswich Town four games earlier, while Middlesbrough lost 2-1 away to Sheffield United as the Robins hosted the Blues.

The results means the Robins are now just one point behind Tony Pulis' Boro ahead of their fixture this weekend, with four games of the regular season remaining.

Assistant head coach McAllister told BCTV: "It was good to get back to winning ways. We changed our tactics a little, we went more direct...we penned them in, made them defend because we hadn’t created as much as we would have liked in the last few games.

"There was a real impetus on getting the ball forward early. It took Birmingham City by surprise but it gives our lads a lift, it gets the confidence back and the belief that we’re still in the hunt and can make the top six."

WHAT HE SAID:

"It gives our lads a lift, it gets the confidence back and the belief that we’re still in the hunt"

Assistant head coach, Jamie McAllister

And while City are not playing history, they have never lost a league game at the Riverside.

McAllister continued: "It’s not something we take into consideration. We know it’s going to be a tough game at Middlesbrough who have changed their fortunes since Pulis came in.

"They are solid to beat but they lost on Tuesday night. With four games to go, six teams are competing for two places in the play-offs and we all have difficult games coming up.

"These are are a big three points at stake on Saturday and I am sure both teams will be giving it a right go."