A LOOK at the points tally in the Championship table only tells part of the story for fifth-placed Middlesbrough, and a trip to St Andrew’s has only highlighted more how the problems are a lot closer to home for Tony Pulis than he would like.

A sixth away win of the season in which they have only lost twice on their travels has lifted Boro to within four points of the top two again.

From the outset in August it was an automatic promotion spot that Pulis and the club craved.

The latest win, after 27 matches, means Boro have claimed more points away from the Riverside Stadium than they have on Teesside turf.

And with back-to-back home dates coming up against Millwall and Bristol City, their first league games at the Riverside of the year, the next two weeks would be the ideal period to give the push for the Premier League the shot in the arm it requires.

After winning the first four games of the season in the league, playing in front of their own fans has become an issue that very few saw coming. Yet, after starting 2019 by collecting four points from two games away from home at promotion contenders Derby and Birmingham, it is exactly that which has held the team back.

Frustrations had grown before ending last December with only a second home win in nine since September over basement boys Ipswich.

Defender Daniel Ayala said: “We have to put that right and I think we will. We’ve got a lot of confidence in ourselves. I think we will. We need to keep the crowd on our side. I think they have been a bit maybe not 100 per cent happy but it’s normal.

“We should be winning games. I think we can put that right and get the crowd behind us. Maybe teams come to our place and play really deep and it’s difficult for us to break them down.”

Whether it is the pressure from playing at home, the tactics implemented by Pulis are more suited to playing away, or a combination of both, there is no disguising that Boro have tended to be more effective outside of the North-East.

In avoiding a third away defeat of the campaign at Birmingham, Boro have lost more when lining up by the River Tees. Even when there were danger signs at St Andrew’s, Pulis’ players showed their character to deliver a crucial win.

Birmingham had only lost one of their previous 18 there, so the manner of the Middlesbrough display deserves applauding even if a stronger first half show didn’t get the rewards it should have done.

By half-time they only had Lewis Wing’s 37th minute close range finish, after a lovely run and centre from George Saville picked him out, to hold on to despite threatening on a number of occasions to add more.

Aside from the two strong penalty appeals which got waved away, the most clear cut opportunities were when Wing went to skirt past goalkepeer Lee Camp on half an hour and the ball fell to Jordan Hugill.

The Middlesbrough-born striker rounded the pair and his effort was incredibly blocked on the line by Kristian Pedersen, who then somehow made an even better block from the rebound when Dael Fry pounced on the loose ball. It looked a certain goal.

“We would prefer to be winning at home than away but our away form is good and this is a difficult place to come,” said Pulis. “I thought first half we were by far the better team. I think we should have had two penalties. The one off the corner where George Friend was pushed is, well, blatant. And the goalkeeper’s challenge (on Hugill) is a definite penalty.

“Instead of being 1-0 at half-time we deserved to be 3-0 up at least. We missed other opportunities. Second half they play very direct, I’ve nothing against that, that’s the way they do it, they’ve got two good forwards up there who put you under enormous pressure and we defended for our lives.”

That direct way saw Che Adams, who had a strong penalty appeal waved away when he made contact with Ayala in the box and was subsequently cautioned, and Lukas Jutkiewicz cause problems in the final third.

Adams was lively throughout and his turn and finish 11 minutes from time, after Boro old boy Jutkiewicz rolled a pass to him, capped a decent performance. At that stage Birmingham looked like they might go on to win.

But Wing’s eye for a pass sent Britt Assombalonga through on goal with eight minutes remaining. It still required a brilliant finish and that’s what it was, when he lifted the ball over Camp and into the empty net. It was his sixth goal in six starts against City.

Pulis said: “Wingy’s been a breath of fresh air, he’s going to become a good player he’s going to be better than what he is, he’s got to learn, he’s got to understand the game, at times he goes AWOL in the team shape that you are working on but he brings so much to the party, he’s very good but we have to be careful with him.

“As for Britt, he knew he was going to get 30 minutes. Up there playing against those centre-halves for Jordan to last 90 minutes was going to be difficult. Britt’s attitude was very good.”

While Hugill had been something of a battering ram for the Birmingham defenders, particularly Harlee Dean, Assombalonga’s pace and directness provided Middlesbrough with something different in those latter stages.

During a month when Pulis makes no bones about the fact that he is searching for the speed in the final third Assombalonga has that and the manager should remember – especially when he is likely to be sold if the right offer comes along.

Middlesbrough are working on fresh deals after being left frustrated on a few fronts last week, with Huddersfield winger Rajiv van la Parra the only new face so far.

He didn’t even emerge from the bench at Birmingham.

“We are nearly halfway through the window so we’ll see what happens over the next couple of weeks,” said Pulis.

“But I don’t pick players (Rajiv) because I bought him I pick him because he deserves to be in the team.

“The team that played at Birmingham played at Derby and played very well.”

Middlesbrough will be keeping an eye on Wing (knock) and Saville (abductor strain) this week to determine if they can face Millwall, when Pulis will hope to see further ground made up on the automatic promotion places.