Middlesbrough boss Tony Mowbray is confident that Scott McDonald will soon snap his scoring dry run.
The Australian international has netted just once in the Championship this season, which was back in mid-August, and was left out the midweek trip to Nottingham Forest.
Mowbray says that McDonald needed a game off to get himself set mentally ahead of this weekend's home clash with Derby County and he is sure the goals will soon come.
"Leaving Scott out was just trying to break the pattern," he told the club's official website.
"Hopefully he'll be back soon firing on all cylinders and once he scores one, hopefully he'll go on a run."