Hellberg committed to Boro's front-foot style

Middlesbrough are not going to hold back from their front-foot approach to try and gain promotion to the Premier League this season, says boss Kim Hellberg.

Boro are third in the table after 11 games, but they could jump into top spot if they win at Bolton Wanderers on Friday.

Only West Ham United have scored more than their 22 goals, but Hellberg's side have only managed two clean sheets in the league.

The Swede, however, is unapologetic about how Boro will continue to take on the division.

"You have to pick in football what you want to be and we want to be an offensive team," Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees. "That's what we believe in.

"That's taken us from where we were almost a year ago which was almost totally different to how we played football to being the best team in the league at controlling games.

"You then need to put everything together and use that. There are a lot of positives I'm very happy with and we are little bit different."

Boro have given their supporters a thrill ride over the past half-a-dozen matches, which have produced 25 goals.

The Teessiders have scored 14 of those, but with 11 going the other way, points have been lost and against both Millwall and Cardiff City, they had to come from two goals down to salvage draws at the Riverside.

Boro have had nearly twice as many shots as their opponents in these six games and managed 36 against Cardiff alone, so do not expect a let-up according to the head coach.

"We're very different to a lot of teams in how we approach games, how we take them on and how brave we are," he said.

"We win more than we lose because of that and that's why over a long time, we've been a team that has developed a lot. We create a lot of chances, we concede very few and from where we started, that's a massive journey."