Stewart Downing knows Middlesbrough need to end their away-day nightmare if they want to stay in the Premier League. Second from bottom Boro have lost their last eight away games and have failed to score in seven of those.

"It is nice to have that platform at home but it is not good enough on its own," he said.

"We must start getting results away from home too - and preferably wins.

"We have eight games left and we certainly haven't written the season off, no way.

"We got a couple of home games coming up that are very winnable and if we can keep our run going and get the points there that can help us close the gap and get us back up there in the pack.

"But we can't rely on home form to keep us up, we know that. We can't expect that scratching points here and there and getting the odd win will keep us up.

"We need to start picking up points away as well if we want to really start to climb away.

"We have been poor away from home this year, there's no getting away from it.

"And if you struggle away then you struggle as a whole and that has cost us this season.

"We know that we have to go to all these places looking for wins. We have to go for it.

"We know it will be difficult in all the remaining games and we are in a bit of a sticky situation.

"But we can't hide from the situation. We have to stand up and be counted from now on, both at home and away."