Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate is confident his players are still behind him after seeing them come from behind to nick a draw at Reading.Boro have begun their fourth month without a win following Saturday's 1-1 stalemate, a result which saw them tumble below north-east rivals Sunderland and into the bottom three for the first time in more than three years.

Southgate's team last tasted success 11 matches ago on September 1 - and they have rarely looked like registering a victory since.

At any other club, it would be no surprise were the manager to have been already shown the door - but Steve Gibson is one of the least trigger-happy chairmen around.

How long his beloved Boro can continue on their current run before his patience wears thin remains to be seen.

Southgate's survival will depend to a degree on whether his players believe he is the man to rescue them from relegation, and the man himself is sure they are performing for him.

"I think they are," he said.

"The effort and commitment they've shown tells me they are.

"They're just wanting to get the win that gets them up and running, really."

Southgate can be rightly proud of the spirit his side showed at the Madejski Stadium.

Having had marginally the better of an uninspiring first half, they fell behind early in the second when Dave Kitson finished off the archetypal route-one play with a cool lobbed finish.

Rather than fold, the visitors battled back - thanks in no small part to some shrewd substitions.

One of those replacements paid off in spectacular fashion when Tuncay headed in Luke Young's cross for his first goal in English football.

Southgate said of the Turkish forward: "I hope that will give him a bit of confidence now and give the team confidence that they know we can come back from behind and get an important point."

There are always two sides to the story, however - and while the visiting manager was praising his players' resolve, opposite number Steve Coppell was ruing his charges' nerves.

"That's an indication of the season not going fluently. You get edgy on the basis of previous results," he said, citing last weekend's sickener at Manchester City.

"We lost a point last week in the very last minute, so you can't really expect them to be super-confident based on recent performances."

Reading went into Saturday's game on a run of three defeats and with the knowledge another would see their opponents climb above them in a congested bottom half of the table.

Coppell added: "That game had been built up as a game we should win."

Southgate could understand Reading wanting to sit on their lead late on.

"For all of the teams in the lower half of the table, once you go ahead subconsciously I think you do try and hang on to it," he said.

"We'd love to be 1-0 up to find out if it would happen to us!"

Both managers elected to look on the draw as a positive result, although Coppell knows how priceless a six-point cushion over the bottom three would have been.

"Every point is precious in this division," he said,

"There's not just one division, there's three divisions I think.

"We're very close to being right in the thick of it.

"We've got to make sure we keep our noses in front. If it's a point here, a point there, a win here, they're significant."

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