Stewart Downing has told his Middlesbrough team-mates they should be looking to get into the top seven next season if they stay up this term.Downing is the club's leading scorer this season with eight goals, and as a lifelong fan of the club, perhaps feels the disappointment of their under-achievement even more keenly than some of his team-mates.

He said: "I remember when we were in around 11th and 12th and we weren't playing that well, so imagine if we could put a run together and we could easily get into the top seven, eight.

"I have always said we should be a top-seven team, so that should be our aim next season.

"The disappointing thing is we have played well against the top teams - if we had kept playing how we did against them, we would have been a lot higher than we are.

"It has been disappointing really. It has been an inconsistent season, so that is one thing we have to improve upon massively."

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