Boro belts Watford to stay on Ipswich's tail
Middlesbrough moved to within a point of second-placed Ipswich Town on the EFL Championship table after thrashing Watford 5-1 at Riverside Stadium.
Morgan Whittaker scored either side of assisting David Strelec, while Tommy Conway's second-half brace rendered James Abankwah's goal for the Hornets a consolation.
Ipswich currently holds the second automatic promotion spot for the Premier League, and has a game in hand, with Coventry City already confirmed as champion of England's second tier.
Boro boss Kim Hellberg was pleased to have secured a play-off spot, but still believes his side could sneak into the Premier League automatically.
"I talked about if we won the two home games, it has a big opportunity to take it to the last day, which we've done," he said after the game.
"It was also one thing to secure the play-offs, that we have done. Winning at home, that we have done. Scoring six goals, only conceding one – so that was a lot of important things going into this week.
"We've also shown quality in the second half, in how good we can be, and in the game at Ipswich. So, it's a lot of things that have been very good with this week.
"There is a lot of energy going into the last days of the season, and I'm really, really looking forward to it."
For Watford boss Ed Still, the thrashing really hurt.
"The result is really painful for everyone - myself, the fans, the club, the player," he said.
"As strange as it sounds, the first-half performance was a really, really good performance.
"The control we had in midfield, we caused them problems. We should have been 2-1 up.
"They've had a moment of brilliance with the free-kick, and the second goal sums up our patchy form in our defensive box.
"But the actual result isn't just based on this game, but the whole season. Not creating enough togetherness, not creating enough resilience, and that's what happens at the end of a season, unfortunately."
