Goalkeeper Jason Steele has admitted that some members of the Middlesbrough squad are struggling to cope with the demands of the Championship calender.

A number of clubs in the second tier, including Boro, were made to play four matches in just 10 days last month.

Steele feels that a run of fixtures like that makes it hard for any side to string together a run of positive results.

"You're never going to be on it every week," Steele told the Northern Echo. "The league is really demanding, playing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday a lot of weeks. There's a lot of lads that need a rest, it takes a hell of a lot out of you.

"You've got to be there or thereabouts all season unless you do a Reading from last year, but you don't want to have to do that. You want to stay consistent all season and that's our aim.

"A lot of credit has got to go to the lads. We hadn't played well last week and to get four points at the end of a tough week was probably more than we deserved, but we'll take it."

Boro are currently 11th in the Championship table.