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Aitor Karanka’s clean sheet kings are absolutely awesome.

The defence - the back four, five, seven, and sometimes all ten outfield players in a orchestrated display of hand-to-hand fighting - have created a rock solid foundation on which a Premier League promotion push can be built.

Boro went back to the top of the table if only temporarily - Derby are yet to play - with yet another narrow win as the rigid rear guard once more proved to be completely inpenetrable.

The well drilled team have put together an incredible binary sequence that has taken them into the automatic promotion places leaving eye-catching statistics and the pundits’ superlatives scattered in their wake.

At the Riverside Stadium the last few league results have been 1-0, 1-0, 0-0, 1-0, 1-0 and before that, spoiling the mathematical base two beauty, 3-0, 0-0 and 3-0.

There was a blip midway through that as Boro lost 2-0 at home to Everton but that was in the Capital One Cup and we don’t talk about that.

Besides, Dimi wasn’t in goal for that one and it was a much changed side so we can put that safely to one side.

And the results since then have shown that Boro shrugged that set-back off with barely a second thought.

Only promotion counts this term and that will come through by-hook-orby-crook victories over our Championship peers.

In the Championship Boro’s current hermetically sealed streak is now eight games, 637 minutes, TWELVE AND A HALF HOURS... stretching back to September 15 and a 3-1 win over Brentford.

That equals Boro’s all time record of eight consecutive home clean sheets in the league.

That shut-out sequence came between November 1986 and February 1987 in the 1986-87 campaign when Steve Pears proved to be a cult hero.

The safe-hands shot-stopper was a fixture in Bruce Rioch’s first full season as Boro burst out of the liquidation coffin and cruised to promotion from old division three.

That run started with a 4-0 Ayresome Park win over title rivals and eventual champions Bournemouth and included wins over Bolton, Doncaster, Bristols Rovers and City, Fulham, Newport and Rotherham.

They can become legends

Four of those were 1-0s and two more goalless before people with dodgy memories weave a narrative about that side being far more prolific.

For most of that run Brucie’s Boro were in top spot with occasional slips in away games that saw them drop back to second and once even third.

The Boro defence from 30 years ago was an amazing collection of mainly young and local talent and from that group Colin Cooper and Gary Pallister played for England while both Tony Mowbray and Brian Laws made £1m moves at a time when that meant something.

This side though are playing at a higher level and look stronger.

And if they can keep up the current trajectory they can become legends for a generation in the way that the Class of 86 did.

Boro’s defence have proved to be the most important component of this season’s success so far - and the one that has proved the toughest nut to crack for opponents.

All the focus is on Dimi Konstantopoulos as the man with the gloves but ironically, as Boro battled to the record mark against Sheffield Wednesday , the keeper barely had a touch .

In the first half he was limited to a casual catches from hopeful punts forward and taking a few goal-kicks and a free-kick.

In the second half Boro were under more pressure as the Owls rallied and gave it a go but all Dimi really had to do was clasp a harmless long range Barry Bannan effort to his chest.

It was Dani, Dani Ayala that took the plaudits once more as the Spanish stopper cleared the Owls one real chance off the line to maintain the run.

Ayala has grown in stature this season to become arguably head-and-shoulders the best defender in the division.

He is physically strong and excellent in the air but his main asset is his spatial awareness.

The combination of his positional play and his ability to read the flight of the ball and the movement of the man he is marking is incredible.

Ayala's and Gibson's stats last season were incredible

In all the games Boro have played against top flight teams in the past year or so he has never looked out of place.

He can mix it if necessary but he is silky smooth for long spells, a well oiled defensive machine that rarely looks flustered.

The number of times he simply stepped in from of an opponent to cut out a dangerous Wednesday ball into the box was gob-smacking.

It is all a far cry from the fledgling player at the start of last season who seemed to have a mistake and/or a booking in him every game.

He has come on leaps and bounds under Aitor Karanka and has dragged the rest of the back four with him.

Certainly he has brought the best out of his brother-in-arms Ben Gibson. The Teessider look a far more solid prospect when along side Ayala.

Last season their stats were incredible. Boro only lost once in the regular season when the pair played together - and that was in the final away day madness at Fulham.

And Wembley. But we don’t talk about that.

But this season they have moved up a gear and no matter what the other personnel of the defence is the dynamic duo look calm and commanding, read each other superbly and are never bullied.

The brittle Boro backline breeched so frequently only a few years ago is now a thing of the past.

But it is not just the defence; the whole team pursue the goal of the clean sheet with a religious zealotry that would shame the Jesuits.

And it is fantastic to watch. Defence - Karankanaccio - is a skill that is under-rated in England but which Boro are perfecting in front of our eyes.

The miserly run is producing tangible results.

The statistics are all pointing in one direction

Boro are top - but just as importantly the table is thinning out behind them.

Boro are now five points clear of third placed Hull - who lost 1-0 at Preston - with a game in hand.

And there is a yawning 13 point gap to seventh.

Compare that to last season’s summit squeeze when at times the top six was covered by two or three points.

The table has a very healthy look to it: top; joint best goal difference; fewest conceded; only second placed Derby have scored more - by one - in the top six... things are looking good.

Obviously, there is a long way to go yet and we’ve been here before and slithered away.

But this team looks better balanced, mentally stronger and very difficult to score against and those are important ingredients of the promotion skill set.

The statistics are all pointing in one direction.

And, one of the statistics is pointing to the elite.

Boro’s win took their points haul in 2015 to 91 level with Barcelona as the best in Europe.

Mighty Middlesbrough: today the Owls - tomorrow the world!