Middlesbrough FC striker’s bold message ahead of crunch Championship double-header against Burnley and Leeds United

Tommy Conway admits that a huge barometer of the club’s

Championship progress will arrive in their crunch away double header against automatic promotion

candidates Burnley and Leeds United.

Fifth-placed Boro visit Burnley, who are second,

on Friday and victory would see them move within three points of the Clarets,

who have won their last four matches.

After that, Michael Carrick’s side face another acid test at third-placed Leeds next Tuesday.

Conway, who took his tally to eight for the season with a brace in the win over Hull City, said:

“We’re professional footballers for games like this.

“You want to play against the best teams in the league and test yourself.

People are going to expect a certain level of us and we need to live up to that.

The aim will be to take the game to them and I’ve got no doubts about it that we will.

“We’ll go there with a game plan and hopefully we can come away from both games with positive results.

“Everyone is so invested and everyone is working hard day in and day out. Now we have that confidence,

I think we’re capable of going to places like Burnley and Leeds and getting a result.”

Conway acknowledges that embracing expectation will be part and parcel of the weeks and months

ahead if Boro are to cement themselves as bonafide promotion contenders.

Carrick’s side – who have won four of their past five games – have shown their credentials against

the best and are one of just two sides to beat the Blades at league level this season.

Conway added: “People are going to start seeing us as a good team now and we’ve got to try to live up to that expectation.

“If you look at the teams at the top of any league around the world, they win when they’re expected to.

“If that’s where we want to be, then that’s what we’ve got to strive towards.

We have to start being so big a threat that teams worry about us.

“Given the past couple of weeks and the amount of goals that have gone in,

I think teams will start to look at us and we’re in a really good place.”