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Boro can make a strong case for the defence being pivotal in the last day shoot-out against Brighton .

The sides are locked together on 88 points but Boro have a better goal difference so Aitor Karanka’s side know a draw will be enough to seal promotion.

It would be fantastic to finish with a final flourish and a comfortable win but Boro have a fall-back position.

So long as they avoid defeat will be elevated to the Premier League - and at the Riverside they are good at that.

Boro’s defensive record is absolutely phenomenal. Especially at home.

And if they can put their strongest defence on the pitch they are literally unbeatable.

Let’s look at some numbers.

FORTRESS RIVERSIDE

Boro have only lost twice at home in the league all season - 1-0 reverses to Bristol City and Nottingham Forest - and have lost just five in two full seasons under Karanka so far.

Boro have taken a hefty 52 points from a possible 66 at home - more than any other side in the Championship.

The record is P 22, W 16, D 4, L 2. That’s brilliant.

Burnley have only lost twice too, but they have drawn two more and won two fewer. Brighton have lost one more and won one fewer. Hull are the next best after Boro when it comes to points haul and they have banked 49 points and only lost one - but they have drawn seven.

RIGID REARGUARD

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And when it comes to keeping it clean Boro are incredible at the Riverside .

Boro have leaked just seven goals this season in 22 league games. Seven. That is the best record in all four divisions.

The next best in the Championship is Hull with 11 then come Burnley (14) and Brighton (17).

The best home guard in the Premier League is Manchester United: they have leaked just eight goals and in 18 games. No other team in the whole 92 can boast a single figure home goals deficit.

Boro have not conceded more than one goal in a home league game all term.

In fact, the last visiting team to score more than once at the Riverside in the league was Sheffield Wednesday in a 3-2 Boro defeat back in August 2014.

The goalless draw at home to Ipswich came after a run of six successive wins in which Boro leaked only three and had three shut-outs .

Boro have kept 16 clean sheets at home in the league this season. And another six away.

Last season Boro kept 13 clean sheets at the Riverside. So they are getting better.

FIRST GOAL THE WINNER

Once Boro get ahead they are never pegged back at home. Boro have nicked the first goal at the Riverside 16 times this season - and won every one of those.

Six of those have been 1-0 wins but generally, as teams come out and chase the game Boro have picked them off with a second or third goal.

In six games Boro haven’t got the first goal. Three of those ended as goalless draws and twice Boro leaked and lost, to Bristol and Forest. In the other game Blackburn got the opener but Boro quickly pegged them back.

It has been a marked trend under Aitor Karanka . Since he took over and tightened up at the back, Boro have lost just two of 69 games when they got the opener.

THE AYALA-GIBSON AXIS

The platform for Boro’s success is the rock solid partnership between centre-back pairing Dani Ayala and Ben Gibson .

Their stats together are simply staggering. When they have started together Boro are unbeaten this season.

The defensive duo’s statistics so far this term are: P 22, W 14, D 8, L 0. Lost zero. None.

And the pair have not been beaten outside London in two seasons. In the past two campaigns the only defeat in a regular league game came in a crazy 4-3 away reverse at Fulham last April and the only other time they were on the losing side was at Wembley in the play-off final against Norwich.

At home Boro are unbeaten in two seasons with that pairing.

Most of Boro’s goals against this season, and the worst run of form, came in January and February when one or the other of the pair were out injured.

In the two Riverside reverses this term Gibson didn’t play against Bristol and Ayala missed Forest (and Ayala was also absent for the defeat at home to Leeds last season).

DIMI STOPSALOTOGOALS

(Image: Arfa / Griffiths Photographers)

He may be stood behind the best defence in the division - and that helps - but Boro’s Greek Dimi-God, keeper Konstantopoulos has also keeping hold of some stinging stats.

So far this term despite the occasional wobble, an occupational hazard, the shot-stopper can boast 22 clean sheets. From 45 league games. One more will see him end the season with an incredible 50% shut-out ratio.

And he has picked the ball out of the net just 30 times.

Last season he kept 20 cleans sheets from 43 league games plus one more in the play-off semi-final against Brentford.

And with Tomas Mejias starting as first choice last season, Dimi sat out the early home defeats to Sheffield Wednesday and Reading so was only on the losing side at the Riverside once in that campaign.

Dimi has lost at the Riverside just three times so far in two seasons.